School district tackles suicide

The rise in youth suicide among students in the St. Charles School District has become a matter of great importance to Superintendent Dr. Don Schlomann, who brought the issue before school board members on Monday.

Over the past six years, six students between the fifth and twelfth grades have taken their own lives, a cause for alarm for district officials and community members alike.

"This is a community issue, not just a school district issue," said Schlomann. "We're going to have to have a discussion with the community."

The school board was given a summary of policies that are currently in place to deal with suicide prevention within the district, as well as more possible plans to help combat the problem even farther.

According to John Knewitz, assistant superintendent for student services, programs that are already in place include orientation of new staff members on suicide warning signs; referral of at-risk students to an outside mental health facility, followed by monitoring; teaching students skills in social decision making; teaching suicide prevention as part of ninth grade curriculum; educational opportunities for parents and the creation of a suicide task force.

"We're doing a lot of stuff, it's just invisible unfortunately," explained Stacy Anderson, assistant director for prevention.

It is now the district's intent to make the issue of youth suicide less invisible.

"We need to communicate more explicitly about what we're doing," Knewitz said.

Additional initiatives currently under consideration are: offering suicide prevention information in classes beyond the ninth grade level, dialogue with members of the community, looking at other school districts with successful suicide prevention programs, and a series of student assemblies to address the problem.

"There's a strong positive response, and we'd like to go ahead with it sometime between Thanksgiving and winter break," Knewitz said of the assemblies.

"They (students) need to hear from a parent who has lost a child to suicide," said Anderson.

In the past, youth suicide has been an issue that has been kept quiet. Schlomann believes that does not solve the problem.

"It's just unfathomable to think about losing my son or daughter," he said. "Actually being more open about this is a better thing."