SENATE, No. 1467

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator  JOSEPH A. LAGANA

District 38 (Bergen)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senator Ruiz

SYNOPSIS

     Requires public schools that offer student psychological services to offer remote sessions.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning student psychological services and supplementing chapter 40 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    a.  A school district, charter school, or renaissance school project that employs a school psychologist and offers in-person school psychology services to students in grades kindergarten through 12, or any combination thereof, shall permit students to attend counseling sessions or meetings of any kind with the school psychologist for counseling purposes, through virtual or remote means, unless the school psychologist determines that in-person counseling is in the best interest of the student.

     b.  Nothing in subsection a. of this section shall be construed to prohibit any student from attending an in-person counseling session or meeting with a school psychologist employed by the school district, charter school, or renaissance school project.

     c.  As used in this section, “school psychologist” means a person who holds a New Jersey standard educational services certificate with a school psychologist endorsement.

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to the first full school year after the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

     This bill requires school districts, charter schools, and renaissance school projects that employ a school psychologist and offer in-person school psychology services to students in grades kindergarten through 12 to allow students to attend counseling sessions or meetings of any kind through virtual or remote means.  Under the bill, a student will not be eligible to participate in remote psychology sessions if the school psychologist determines that in-person counseling is in the best interest of the student.

     Also under the bill, a student will not be required to attend a school counseling session or meeting with a school psychologist remotely, and will be permitted to continue to attend sessions in-person.  As used in the bill, a “school psychologist” means a person who holds a New Jersey standard educational services certificate with a school psychologist endorsement.

     School psychologists assist educators in implementing safe, healthy classroom and school environments by providing students with a wide range of emotional and academic services. This bill

ensures that students who are unable to attend in-person sessions, for whatever reason, will continue to have access to their school psychologist by offering virtual or remote counseling sessions.