Dive Brief:
- A bipartisan bill proposed in New Jersey would require public school educators and staff to take part in an annual two-hour suicide prevention training session taught by a certified health care professional.
- A current version of the law, created in 2005, only requires educators and staff to undergo the two-hour training every five years.
- The bill is being pushed now because of the increase in online and text message bullying resulting in suicides, according to Democratic Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt.
Dive Insight:
According to the most recent statistics from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, in 2012 the state had a youth suicide rate of about 5 per every 100,000 people — the national average that year was 8 per every 100,000 people.
When the initial law went into effect in 2005, the youth suicide rate dropped the following year to below 4 per every 100,000 people, an improvement that could be tied to the additional training. However, stats indicate that it went back up in the 2010-11 school year, around the time educators would be due to have another round of training.
Lampitt argues, however, that the statistics don't really matter, saying that saving just one life could make the additional training worth it.
Schools and educators are often ill-prepared to deal with bullying. In August, a Florida mother sued the Polk County School Board over the suicide of her 12-year-old daughter. The mother says the school board didn't do enough to stop another student who was allegedly bullying and stalking her daughter. Much of the failure to intervene comes from a lack of knowledge for how to deal with bullying situations. While teachers often get a fair share of classroom management professional development opportunities, workshops focused on actual bullying mediation are few and far between. And what happens when the techniques fail? Students are people, and everyone reacts differently. Figuring out protocols for teachers to deal with bullying, as well as a plan B for when that doesn't work, is key.