Local educational agencies: mental health professionals.

Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for the work. Existing law requires a school of a school district or county office of education and a charter school to notify pupils and parents or guardians of pupils no less than twice during the school year on how to initiate access to available pupil mental health services on campus or in the community. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before November 1, 2020, in coordination with other relevant state and local agencies, to develop and submit recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor to develop a system through which qualified mental health professionals and other key school personnel employed by local educational agencies throughout the state could be rapidly deployed on a short- or long-term basis to an area of the state that has experienced a natural disaster or other traumatic event, in order to provide support to pupils and staff. The bill would require the department, in developing recommendations for this system of sharing mental health professionals and other key school personnel to consider, at a minimum, specified issues.