High school suicides

Why did it take three deaths before the school district administration made sure that parents knew what was going on and brought this issue to more attention?

Sandra, I asked this very same question a couple years ago when my son lost his best friend. There seems to be a perception that talking about it glorifies the act. I called both the high school and the district administration about getting an awareness program started at the high school only to be brushed off. The end result was I was told they were already working on a program to implement district-wide. I have heard nothing in over two years. I researched Yellow Ribbon which is a suicide prevention program and passed out information at the funeral services and then brought that information to the school to be considered and even offered my time to make that program come to fruition. Seems my help was not wanted. There needs to be an awareness/prevention program in place for our kids or we are going to have more dead children that could have easily been saved. In most cases, all they needed was someone to listen objectively.

Hello Lakishia,

I am sorry for your son's loss and hope that somehow the school district will make a long-term investment into prevention programming. Each of these young lives is a huge loss and something needs to change.

almost a full day and no response from the school, wonder why? Maybe it is because it is not a magnet school issue or a little too serious of a question?

You know I really don't want to bash the district and as a parent who has confidence in the education my kids can receive here I get tired of the bad rap Schenectady gets. Right now, I am angry. I sat at the forum this evening and it took every bit of strength I had not be be negative so I did not speak. I kept hearing it starts with the parents. Yes it does and in the case of the young lady that was lost in 2007 she had loving, supportive parents who were there for her. They went to her activities......they were involved. They called my house to make sure she was actually where she said she would be. This is not a broken home issue or an economic status issue. Yes the community has many supports in place, but these kids are in the high school building for much of their day and lives and there needs to be some prevention right there that is readily accessible to them. I could have blasted everyone that I left messages for and everyone that sent me emails and did nothing, but I wanted the meeting to be positive. They can ignore these threads but this time around I will not take anyone's word that something will be done. They will hear my mouth until it happens and I know how to speak loudly.

Hi Lakisha,

I missed the forum last night but hope somehow changes can be made for future students. I don't know how many times a young person has killed themselves in the past but the three deaths this year are not just a statistic, these kids were someone's child, had a future that no longer exists, and will be missed by many people forever. Hopefully the school distrifct will do whatever possible to help prevent future deaths and to not just forget about these kids and the kids from the past in a few short months.

Mr. Ely, please don't play god by deciding when to inform parents of any suicides in the future but instead, please work with the board to develop a policy for communicating about any death at the high school so parents can know what is going on and make sure that we are there for not only our kids but others.

A: As has been reported consistently, the district will not release private medical or emergency information on any student or community member in this time of community crisis. We will continue to follow the recommendations of the experts in the area of teen suicide as we work through this difficult time.

Well hopefully the recommendations of the experts the school district relies on will change for the future and parents won't find out about three student deaths from the local paper instead of the school district.

Admin wrote:

A: As has been reported consistently, the district will not release private medical or emergency information on any student or community member in this time of community crisis. We will continue to follow the recommendations of the experts in the area of teen suicide as we work through this difficult time.

No one is asking you to release private medical information.

I was aware of some of the other "several" attempts and had the opportunity to communicate with my oldest about it without glamorizing it or discussing personal details.

Every parent should be made aware if a problem exists and not wait until there are three tragedies before they are notified.

These kids are teenagers, don't you think word was spread around them already? They were already talking about it and parents shouldn't be the last to know.

One thing the parents will never know is whether there were differences in opinions between administrators on when to finally notify the parents. If I was guessing, I would bet Mr. Comley and the high school staff wanted to involve parents earlier but got shut down from administration above the high school level.

How will the district make long-term changes so our kids all feel secure enough and have at least one adult they are comfortable talking to?

I think the district has learned a little late that hiding the information for fear of copy cats and glorification was not the correct course of action. It is far more damaging to say nothing and it is a misconception held by many that talking about this causes more kids to attempt it. I attended last night's forum and heard from other parents who talked about how phone calls and emails go unreturned and emails that are responded to are dismissive. I too experienced this and it was not in the heat of things right after a major trauma had happened it was months after. If I as a parent cannot get a response, what are these children encountering? On a positive note, I received an apology and a warm reception to sit down and talk about implementing the Yellow Ribbon program. If anyone wants to learn more about it here is the website www.yellowribbon.org . When tragedy struck back in 2007, I discovered there had been several other suicides and there was no prevention program in the school. I then started looking for one and I think this program is wonderful. It is also one that can be easily tied in with the larger Schenectady community. I hope things move forward on this and if we can save even one child this will all be worth it.