The U.S. Surgeon general reported that from 2009 to 2019, the share of high school students who reported persistent feelings of hopelessness increased by 40 percent to more than one in three students. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and in person classes canceled or conducted by a combination of in person and virtuaal or what became known as hybrid. Worse yet, the pandemic disrupted

many young people’s lives and educators took notice. They pointed to mental health as a major concern for students. In the recently adopted state budget, $200 million was provided for student mental health and school safety.

David Hein is the school board president at Parkland School District in Lehigh County; the 2022 president of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, and a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and. Delinquency’s School Safety and Security Committee

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