DOJ OCR Issue New Mental Health Guidance for Districts

October 18, 2021

Today, OCR/DOJ released a Dear Colleague letter to districts about their obligations under federal civil rights laws—Section 504 in particular—to "provide students with mental health disabilities an equal opportunity to learn, free from discrimination."

Specifically, they write: "A student with a condition such as anxiety, depression, or a substance use disorder can have a mental health disability. Students with mental health disabilities are protected under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)."

OCR also gave examples of when a district may be not following Section 504 when they should be. This example is of particular relevance to superintendents: “A public school student has developed severe depression for the first time during the pandemic. Their parent tells the school principal. Despite the school’s Section 504 FAPE obligation to evaluate any student who needs or is believed to need special education or related services because of a disability, the principal does not refer the student for evaluation. Instead, the principal says that all students are struggling because of the pandemic and suggests that the parent should hire a private tutor and find a psychologist for the student.”

The guidance encourages districts to "develop trauma-informed crisis management procedures that include an individualized assessment of the student’s circumstances" and "reasonably modify policies, such as attendance policies, for individual students as appropriate." You can access the corresponding factsheet here.