Brookings, SD: "As many as 22% of ...9th graders have contemplated suicide at one point"

Mar 10, 2018, Brookings (SD) Register: School board candidates quizzed https://brookingsregister.com/article/school-board-candidates-quizzed DeBates said there must be a focus on addressing mental health from an early age. This means working with counselors to help students with emotional and behavioral issues. She also suggested possibly forming partnerships with local entities, citing the example of the Rapid City School District, which has started working with a mental health system there. … The school board has made school safety such a focus, Grimsley said, that they’ve made it one of the superintendent’s explicitly listed duties. “The board has made it a measurable goal for the school superintendent, so he has to report back to us on safety. … Now it’s part of his job description as far as how we deem he’s doing his job,” Grimsley said. And he pointed to the Monday school board meeting, where the police chief and school resource officers will be presenting on the topic of school safety. It’s a start, he said, but more will be needed with a survey finding that as many as 22 percent of Brookings High School ninth-graders have contemplated suicide at one point.