Students across Illinois are now able to take up to five excused mental health days. This started on January 1, 2022.
Under a bill signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August, 2021, students who decide to take a mental health day will not be required to provide their school with a doctor’s note and will be able to make up any work that was missed on their day off.
“Having this now for all students across the state will be really beneficial, especially with what’s going on with COVID,” State Rep. Barbara Hernandez, who co-sponsored the bill, told the Journal-Courier. “Many students feel stressed, and have developed anxiety and depression because they’re not able to see teachers and friends, and may have lower grades due to remote learning.”
At Leyden High School District 212, several students have already taken advantage of this new law.
But a review of the Leyden SD 212 website https://www.leyden212.org/leyden reveals no reference to the new law nor any guidance to the students or parents regarding the implementation of the law. Unlike other Illinois school districts which notified students and parents regarding the new law in December and provided guidelines as well as information as how to access mental health and social work services, SD 212 has remained silent.
An inquiry with the administration of the District reveals an in-ability to provide an implementation policy. Currently Leyden students taking “mental health days” have received unexcused absences in contravention of the Illinois law. The deans of Leyden School District 212 have never been briefed by the administration or provided with an implementation plan.
Answers and advice to parents is not forthcoming to the parents of SD 212, nor for that matter any of the school districts in Leyden Township. Are the Superintendents not supportive of the mental health needs of their students or have the school districts over looked this important need for children to have a break when they are experiencing a significant decline in their mental health ?
Could your child use a break? Here are 10 mental health signs to look out for
Neither you nor your child has to experience a significant decline mental health in order to benefit from a mental health day. Taking a break to relax, rest, and play is a good idea for all of us.
But if you notice any of the following signs or symptoms in your kid, it could mean their mental health is suffering. Talk to your pediatrician if you’re worried about your child’s:
Persistent sadness (lasting for two weeks or more)
Withdrawal from social interactions
Self-harming behaviors
Discussions about death or suicide
Unusual or extreme irritability
Escalating, high risk behaviors
Drastic change in mood, personality, weight, and/or eating or sleeping habits
Frequent headaches or stomachaches
Problems concentrating
Sudden change in academic performance and/or truancy
If this can happen to Miss America we Ned to pay more attention to our students in Illinois as well as in Leyden Township . See the link:
Since 1887 in Punxsutawney, Groundhog Day has developed its own particular character. There is a Groundhog Club (originally made up of groundhog hunters. Shh! Don’t tell Phil!) The 15 members of the Club’s Inner Circle dress up in top hats and tails to lead a procession to Phil’s burrow on Groundhog Day. They pull him out and the legend says he gives his prediction to the Club president in “groundhogese”.
SPOILER ALERT! Of course, the 2022 event has to be socially distanced. And with a massive winter storm battering the east coast of the U.S., it was no surprise that Phil predicted #sixmoreweeks of winter. (Though it was a mystery how he saw his shadow as snow fell…)
The financial disclosures contain a wealth of previously unknown information. For example, the Fauci household’s net worth exceeds $10.4 million.
During the pandemic year of 2020, their household income, perks and benefits, and unrealized gains totaled $1,776,479 — including federal income and benefits of $868,812; outside royalties and travel perks totaling $113,298; and investment accounts increasing by $794,369.
Here are the numbers as compiled by the auditors at OpenTheBooks.com, an organization I lead. This analysis used previously known information plus the newly released disclosures.
Disclosures show $794,369 in gains in the Fauci stock, bond, and money market portfolio during 2020. The total value of Dr. Fauci’s investment account was $8.4 million and his wife’s investments totaled another $2.1 million.
Some on the right have speculated that Fauci may have profited off the pandemic. The disclosures show that he’s invested in fairly broadly targeted mutual funds, with no reported holdings of individual stocks.
Previously, NIH had released heavily redacted financial disclosures of Dr. Fauci. Redactions included the fund balances, so a net worth analysis was impossible until now.
Salaries: $668,312
Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and his wife Christine Grady is the chief bio-ethicist at the National Institutes of Health.
Background: Fauci earned $434,312 in cash compensation (FY2020) outearning all 4.3 million federal employees including the president and four-star generals in the U.S. military. Between 2010 and 2020, Dr. Fauci earned cash compensation of $3.7 million from his federal employer. Review Fauci’s ten-year salary history in my previous column published at Forbes.
Fauci’s wife, Christine Grady is the chief bio-ethicist at the National Institutes of Health and made $234,284 in FY2020, as disclosed by FOIA to OpenTheBooks.com in August 2021. Grady’s FY2019 pay was also $234,284 and since 2015, Grady made $1.3 million in cash compensation.
However, Fauci’s financial disclosures only show that Grady made $176,000 for FY2020.
NIH does still not disclose Fauci’s current salary (FY2022) or last year’s salary (FY2021), despite comment requests for the information. Therefore, Fauci earned an estimated total of roughly $900,000 during the period.
Perks And Pension Benefits: Est. $200,500
Federal employees have a lucrative amount of paid time off, subsidized healthcare, pension benefits and a myriad of other perquisites. For example, after just three-years, a rank-and-file federal employee receives 44 days of paid time off. Dr. Fauci has held a federal job for 55 years.
A good faith estimate of the taxpayer cost of those benefits is 30-percent multiplied by the salary amount for Dr. Fauci and his wife.
Background: The study — published at Forbes in December — showed that when Fauci retires he’ll reap a retirement pension estimated at $350,000 per year, the highest in federal history. With cost-of-living increases, Fauci would receive over $1 million during his first three years of retirement.
Royalties And Professional Reimbursements: $100,000
Disclosures show that Dr. Fauci edits the medical textbook, Harrison’s Principals of Internal Medicine and serves on the board of the publisher, McGraw Hill. In 2020, Fauci received $100,000 as an editor of the publication. In 2019, Fauci also received $100,000 from McGraw Hill for editing the same textbook, and in July 2019, Fauci also received travel reimbursement of $6,328 for a six-day trip to La Jolla, CA to attend a board meeting of McGraw Hill, the publisher.
An NIH spokesperson confirmed that Dr. Fauci has an editorial board position with McGraw Hill that is approved by NIH. When he receives reimbursements for out-of-pocket travel to attend meetings, it is on the same basis as other directors.
Background: OpenTheBooks filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to get a copy of all royalties paid to current and retired NIH scientists since 2005. When NIH would not release the information, a federal lawsuit was filed in October with Judicial Watch and production is scheduled to start on February 1st.
Gifts And Travel Reimbursements: $13,298
Galas: Fauci and his wife reported the fair market value of the $8,100 in tickets given to him to attend three virtual galas. Filers are instructed by Government-wide regulations that the “market value” of a ticketed event is the ticket’s face value. NIH gave prior written approval for Dr. Fauci to attend the events.
Here is the breakdown: $5,000 in for the Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) “Ripple of Hope” gala in December 2020 which also honored him as an award receipt. $1,600 to attend “An Evening Of Hope” virtual event in April 2020 and $1,500 to attend a “Prepared For Life” virtual gala in October 2020.
A spokesperson at NIH confirmed the details on the gala disclosures.
When Fauci was named Federal Employee Of The Year at the 2020 Samuael J. Heyman Service To America Medals awards program he was paid $5,198 for the virtual star-studded event.
Background: Fauci’s FY2021 disclosure is scheduled for release in May. The disclosure should contain interesting information. For example, in January 2021, as reported by NPR, Fauci received a $1 million prize for the prestigious Dan David Prize affiliated with Tel Aviv University for “speaking truth to power.”
Most likely Fauci kept $900,000 of that prize with 10-percent awarded to Fauci-picked scholarship winners.
A Case Study Evaluation (“CSE”) request is a request made to the school, asking that a student be evaluated for special education services. Note that the term “CSE” and “FIE” (Full Individual Evaluation) are used interchangeably.
Who can make a request? The parent (the educational rights holder) or public agency can make a CSE request. In Illinois, an employee of a State or local educational agency, other State agency, or a community service agency may also make the request. See 23 Ill. Admin. Code 226.110(b);
What should the request contain? A request should be made in writing and signed by the parent. Although not required, the request should also contain reasons why the student may need special education services and all areas of suspected disability; What happens after a parent submits a CSE request? The school has 14 school days to either grant the CSE request or to deny the…
general practice attorney, criminal law, traffic law, special education law, divorce and child custody, estate planning and probate, municipal law, real estate — Read on attorneymccampbell.com/
The Illinois State Board of Education issued a directive on August 31, 2021, providing a directive regarding current remote learning options under Illinois law for school districts.
Illinois school districts MUST provide remote instruction to any student who is under quarantine or excluded from school consistent with guidance or requirements from a local health department or the Illinois Department of Public Health. This includes students who are not in-person due to the district entering into an adaptive pause after consultation with the local health department.
The remote learning requirements are the same as they were last year—specifically, five hours of a combination of instruction and schoolwork, with a strong recommendation that district strive to provide all their students with at least 2.5 hurs of synchronous learning with rea-time instruction and interaction between students and their teachers.
If your student faces quarantine, contact your local school district to make arrangements to implement the remote instruction.
I can assist you if you have any questions, contact me at 708/878-7957.
On Christmas Eve, Dr. Anthony Fauci turned 81-years old. After 55 years of federal service, he’s not retiring yet. However, if he did retire this year, here is what Fauci would reap in retirement package pay…
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com estimated that Dr. Fauci’s annual retirement pension and benefits would exceed $350,000 — the most ever at the federal level.
Federal employees with Fauci’s length of service can retire to earn 80-percent of their high-three average salary, plus credit for their sick leave.
Fauci has likely made $1.3 million over the last three years (at least $434,312 per year). Therefore, his retirement pay would be closer to $347,500 a year. (($1,302,936/3) x 80%).
But, Fauci will get many other retirement benefits as well.
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