Coventry School Committee                                                                        Policy #: 9070

                                                                                                                       

9070:  SUICIDE PREVENTION

 

PURPOSE:

 

The purpose of this policy is to establish procedures to be utilized when responding to any situation in which a student verbally or behaviorally indicates intent to attempt suicide or to do physical harm to him/herself.

 

POLICY:

 

Any school employee who may have the knowledge of a suicide threat or intent shall immediately report this information to the school principal or his/her designee, following which a crisis screening shall take place.  At no time during this process is the student to be left alone.  Suicide is a complex issue and while school staff members may recognize potentially suicidal youth, they should not put themselves in a position of making a clinical assessment of the risk. 

 

SUICIDE PREVENTION:

 

When a staff member in Coventry Public Schools is confronted with a situation in which a student expresses suicidal thoughts, or it appears that an attempt at suicide is possible, the following actions shall take place:

 

  1. The staff member will immediately refer the situation to the principal or his/her designee.
  2. In the event the staff member perceives that a student has taken action, which creates a medical emergency, the school nurse will be notified immediately and emergency medical procedures will be followed.
  3. The building administrator will consult with the support services in the building to develop an appropriate plan of action.
  4. The initial responder and/or principal or his/her designee will meet with the student immediately for the purposes of establishing sequential facts or events leading to the crisis and a crisis screening.  At no time during this process is the student to be left alone.
  5. The effected parent(s) are to be notified of the results of the screening regardless of the perceived level of risk and will be provided with recommendations.

      a.   The parent or guardian will be advised that an immediate mental health intervention

      is needed.  Community resources will be identified and suggestions to parents will be

      provided.  Under no circumstances is the student allowed to go home alone.  The student

      must be released only to a parent, guardian, or other responsible adult.

b.         If reasonable attempts to reach the parent, guardian, or other responsible adult in whose custody the student may be released are not successful, the case will be treated as a medical emergency and arrangements will be made to transport the student to an area hospital emergency room or mental health facility using community resources.  Parents will be informed to meet the student at the hospital or mental health facility.

 

6.      The support person(s) involved will complete incident reports.  A copy of all reports will be submitted to the building principal, school nurse, and the Superintendent through the office of the Assistant Superintendent for Unified Learning Support.

7.      Follow-up contact will be made with the parent or guardian as per the recommendations on the crisis screening report.

8.      Failure on the part of the family to take such an incident seriously and provide for the safety of the student in case of potential suicide will be considered emotional neglect and will be reported to the Department of Children, Youth and Families (PL No. 100-294 sec 14).

9.      The support staff person assigned to the case will maintain contact with the student’s mental health professionals to support programming needs to follow up.

 

                                                           

                                                                       

 

 

1st Reading:

2nd Reading:                                                                            Adopted: