RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Follow us online! rblandmark.com
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Vol. 37, No. 2
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Also serving North Riverside
January 12, 2022
North Riverside man charged with robbing 2 banks PAGE 6
RBHS boys back on hardwood after COVID layoff PAGE 11
Former RBHS student dies in River Grove house fire
New state law allows student mental health days
Michelle Owrey, remembered as positive, fun-loving presence, was Best Buddies director By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
Those age 7+ can call off five times per school year without penalty By BOB SKOLNIK
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Contributing Reporter
ll public school students in Illinois age 7 and above now have the right to take up to five mental health days without penalty each school year. The law passed the Illinois General Assembly last year without a single dissenting vote. The new law comes at a time when there is increasing concern about the
mental health of children, adolescents and teenagers and the stress that they are under due to the unpredictability and turmoil wrought on education by the COVID-19 pandemic. In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health. State Rep. Mike Zalewski (D-Riverside) said lawmakers have developed a greater
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understanding of importance of mental and behavioral health in recent years, saying mental health is as important as physical health. The mental health of students has become a major concern especially during the COVID pandemic, which has isolated students during times of remote learning. “I think remote learning during COVID really had an effect on their anxiety See MENTAL HEALTH on page 7
A popular former student at Riverside-Brookfield High School was killed, along with her father and grandmother, in an early morning house fire in River Grove on Jan. 5. Michelle Owrey, 24 and her father John Owrey, 61, were found dead on the second floor of a house in the 2300 block of Grove Street in River Grove. Owrey’s grandmother, 91-year-old Marilyn Owrey Hennig, was found dead on the first floor. A 56-year-old man, thought to be Owrey’s uncle, was the only resident of the home to escape and he was reported by the River Grove Fire Department to be in stable condition at Loyola Medical Center suffering from smoke inhalation. In a press release issued on Jan. 5, River Grove Fire Chief Sean Flynn said the cause of the fire had not been determined, but that “the rapidly spreading fire fueled by high winds and water issues made it challenging” for firefighters who initially arrived at the scene. See OWREY on page 7
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