School Fails to Prevent Student Suicide Despite Repeated Warnings

Case Overview

This academic affairs case involves the suicide of a public high school student in New Jersey who had a known history of self-harm, primarily cutting. At some point, the girl’s mother approached the administration of her high school with concerns about her daughter’s well-being, at which point she was instructed to take her to the hospital. While at the hospital, the child was only seen by ER physicians before being discharged – at no point was the child seen by a psychiatrist or referred to one. A few weeks later, the parents of one of the girl’s friends approached her mother with concerns over comments that the girl had made regarding harming herself. She also informed the school of what she had heard, but was assured that the school was aware of the situation and was handling it. Just a few days later, the girl committed suicide.

Questions to the Education expert and their responses

In general, what steps should be taken when a school is informed that a child with previous suicidal tendencies is acting suicidal again?

This instance was not properly investigated right from the start, and a safety plan does not appear to have ever been put in place - I tend to use the Salem-Keizer method, which is a threat assessment plan. This negligence is procedural, with an issue in reporting complaints to the appropriate individuals and, right away, this sounds like a federal violation of OCR-reporting. This girl should have been referred to an appropriate psychologist or psychiatrist, with proper follow up done. She should have been supervised at all times until further evaluation confirmed that she was no longer a threat to herself.

Have you ever created/developed policies for school systems for suicide prevention?

I was a Special Education Director for 12 years, so I oversaw suicide prevention programs for large school districts. I also consult with schools on suicide prevention protocols, and I am a senior consultant at a company that works on facilitating threat reporting, including for instances of self-harm, to help build safety plans.

About the expert

This expert has been employed as the Director of Student Services for various school districts and has overseen special education, counseling, nursing, social work services, and school safety. He has worked as a speech-language pathologist, school principal and director of rehabilitation. He is currently completing a PhD degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research embarks upon the study of geographic information systems and social vulnerability indexes relative to external crisis preparedness in the school setting. He has developed and instructed special education, pupil services, inclusion, restorative practices and applied research graduate courses. In addition, he has been invited to guest lecture to graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the topic of school crisis preparedness exercises. He has been interviewed for his expertise in bullying, school connectedness and crisis preparation and has been sought after to serve as an expert witness in legal cases involving student behavior, harassment and bullying. He co-founded the Great Lakes School-Based Behavior Solutions Summit, which quickly established itself as one of the most prominent behavior, mental health and sensory professional development events in the Midwest. In addition, this expert has authored many published articles relative to the management of student services in schools. He regularly consults and presents to schools across Wisconsin.

E-058173

Specialties:

Education