After external review, State College district plans next steps for suicide prevention
The State College Area School District is preparing to further develop its suicide prevention and response protocols following an external review prompted by the death of a Park Forest Middle School student.
At a work session Monday, the district’s board of directors heard a presentation detailing the overall findings of Terri Erbacher, a certified school psychologist and licensed psychologist who authored “Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner’s Guide” and conducted the monthslong review. Her presentation, which lasted more than an hour, summarized the results of surveys, anonymous interviews with school staff and stakeholders and reviews of school protocols and procedures surrounding suicide prevention and response within schools.
The district will use Erbacher’s recommendations to create an “action plan” that will outline steps to improve its suicide prevention and response protocols. The plan, which was not discussed in detail during Monday’s work session, will be shared with Student Services staff and relayed to board members with regular updates throughout the year, Superintendent Curtis Johnson said.
District officials ordered the external review in response to the May 2024 death by suicide of Park Forest Middle School student Abby Smith. Erbacher said she hopes her findings can help better equip and train administrators throughout the district, which has experienced three student deaths by suicide since 2021.
“I do not take it lightly that so many of you shared your thoughts and let me into your hearts,” said Erbacher, who presented to the board remotely. “It’s been a gift for me to be able to work with all the members of this community who are both grieving and want to do better.
“We are all human, and we learn with each experience. I wish I could have met with every stakeholder who wanted to share their personal journey. While everyone did not have a chance to share their story, my hope is this review is a chance to begin that path forward.”
‘Climate of mistrust’ with district administration
Anonymous surveys conducted with 36 employees within the district’s Student Services Department — which covers counseling services, social work, mental health support, nursing and more — found that sampled workers receive significant training surrounding suicide risk screening, assessment and monitoring, Erbacher said. Respondents identified re-entry planning, which concerns the transition back to school following a suicide attempt, as the top training need moving forward, followed by suicide risk monitoring and suicide postvention, or the immediate and long-term responses to suicide.
Erbacher’s review included 34 anonymous interviews with adult stakeholders throughout the district who were self-selected, meaning they chose to participate and may skew results by typically holding stronger viewpoints, she said. While discussing the overall findings of her interviews, Erbacher distilled talking points into more than a dozen dominant themes that surfaced through discussions, including strong compassion for Smith’s family and friends and a “climate of mistrust” with district administration.
A districtwide communication after Abby’s death created a rift between her family and the school district. Johnson, the superintendent, initially wrote that Abby’s parents were not aware of her being bullied and did not believe it was the reason for her death by suicide. But Jonathon Smith, Abby’s father, told the CDT that was incorrect and the family’s thoughts were misinterpreted.
To remedy perceived mistrust, Erbacher recommends district officials work to increase visibility within the community during crises and provide continued communication that is clear and direct. That process is often challenging, she said.
“This can feel like a no-win situation for both the administration and the school board,” said Erbacher. “We want to validate the family, validate the community, validate parents and stakeholders while also not appearing dismissive but also investigating what happened within our own district and supporting staff. We don’t want staff to feel unsupported, we don’t want community members to feel unsupported. I can only imagine that is a fine line not easily walked.”
Board member Aaron Miller joined several colleagues in voicing support for helping the district increase transparency and trust moving forward.
“I think we need to take a serious look at [the climate of mistrust] in particular moving forward rather than just saying, ‘We have an action plan and we’re going to change this and this,’” Miller said during board discussion. ”To me, a climate of mistrust among staff and among community members is a problem that goes beyond Dr. Erbacher and the recommendations. It’s something that I think we need to seriously think about.”
The work continues
Erbacher conducted additional anonymous interviews with five students between the seventh and ninth grades — a narrow scope intended to find participants who were the most likely to have known Smith. Interviewees were again self-selected, with parents’ permission.
Interviews with students provided similar themes as those conducted with adult stakeholders, including feelings that interviewees are healing after Smith’s death and that rumors played a role in heightening tensions throughout schools. Erbacher said student interviews cited a need for greater postvention support in the district but noted the interview sample size was too small to draw overarching conclusions.
Another key component of Erbacher’s review was the detailed analysis of the district’s postvention response to Smith’s death last year. The district’s flight team — a group of trained responders who help provide support for students during traumatic situations — helped address concerned students, provide safe rooms in schools and connect stakeholders to important resources, among many other duties.
Erbacher recommended more expanding the district’s postvention response, including improving safe room logistics, holding parent meetings after crisis events and increasing district communication with students and families. She also recommended State College administrators consider additional training in the National Association of School Psychologists PREPaRE Model, which is “ideal for schools committed to improving and strengthening their school safety and crisis management plans and emergency response.”
“You could take what you need from the PREPaRE training and add it into the flight team training to make the most beneficial thing for your district,” Erbacher said.
Erbacher also advocated for the creation of a memorial policy for students throughout the district. Clear guidance could help school officials determine how to appropriately remember students who have died without glamorizing tragedy or “making the student appear larger in death than in life,” she said. To mark the year after Abby’s death, Erbacher suggested the district could create a scholarship in her name or host an event, such as a run, to raise funds to support suicide prevention.
Abby’s mother, Jennifer Black, spoke for more than 10 minutes during the work session’s public comment period, expressing encouragement with Erbacher’s recommendations and highlighting the importance of improving referral procedures, implementing partial hospitalization programming and increasing district communication with parents and families. Though she thanked the district and its partners for following through with an external review, Black said she wants State College officials to continue digging deeper to better support students, families and the community.
“I’ve heard the phrase, in reference to Abby and to this situation, that unfortunately, we can’t reach everyone. I’ve heard that far too many times,” Black said. “That answer might be OK for everyone whose child is still here, but it’s not enough for me because mine isn’t. We — our community, our district, our family — failed to save Abby. That doesn’t mean we’re bad people. That doesn’t mean we did anything knowingly wrong. But it also doesn’t mean we should just accept her as a casualty and say that some kids won’t be saved.”
Another district parent, Scott Cole, called on the district to hire more mental health clinicians to support students. He said that kind of support would have greatly helped his daughter, who felt affected by the 2022 death by suicide of district student Brandon Koppenhaver.
“The guidance counselors — they are absolutely fabulous at their job — but they are not mental health professionals, and they shouldn’t be asked to serve in that role,” Cole said. “More professionally trained folks in the district would allow you to serve more students.”
The district’s ongoing response to Abby’s death includes an external review that will examine bullying in State College schools, the district’s code of conduct and mental health programming. The school board approved a contract with bullying expert and licensed psychologist Susan Swearer, who will organize focus groups, issue surveys and conduct training for employees. Swearer, the chairperson of the Department of Educational Psychology and professor of School Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was expected to begin her work this spring but will instead start this summer and continue through fall.
“I really appreciate all of the work, but I don’t want us to think our work is done,” Black said. “It’s just beginning.”
%202.JPG)