BOISE, Idaho — The Boise School District is looking to keep conversations surrounding mental health and suicidal ideations at the forefront. The district is enhancing its suicide prevention program by expanding its GoGuardian Beacon services.
"We want to be able to provide parents and families resources and help them understand that we care," said Dan Hollar, the public affairs administrator for BSD. "We care deeply."
GoGuardian Beacon will notify parents, counselors, and other support staff in its schools if the program detects a child is interacting with content online related to actively planning suicide beginning Feb. 16.
The services detect the interaction if a child searches, creates, views, or interacts with the online content only on school-issued Chromebooks.
BSD has had GoGuardian within the school system during school hours for years. This enhanced service will now alert parents and a student's counselor automatically outside of school hours via email, Hollar said. He added the purpose is to notify parents outside of school hours, like weekends and holidays.
Parents and guardians will receive notifications on the email associated with a child in BSD's student records system, Infinite Campus. Families are asked to confirm their email address is correct on file.
"We need to support our families. I think we can all agree that the last two years have provided challenges, not only for our families in the Boise School District but across the nation," Hollar said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 8.9% of high school students in the U.S. in 2019 reported making a suicide attempt within a year. Something that Imagine Program Education Advisor Taro Golden believes may have increased since the pandemic began in 2020.
"I think there's a lot of pressure that we put on our kids and there's a lot of things that are going on in our community that is causing confusion and frustration," Golden said.
The Imagine Program is part of Northpoint Recovery and focuses on youth between the ages of 12 and 17 and their mental health or behavioral conditions.
"It's not easy to talk about, and sometimes it's easier for parents to not talk about it," Golden said when it comes to the topic of suicide.
The notification will also come with resources available, like a consultation, referral, and crisis support services from the Boise School District counseling services.
Golden appreciates what Boise School District is doing because it sparks more conversations between children and their parents.
"If you have a student that's not necessarily experiencing suicidal ideation, but we're still educating them if that does begin to take place or friend of theirs or loved one begins to have those ideations that student now is educated and can help encourage someone to reach out for help," Golden said.
Golden said having a conversation with someone who may be struggling mentally could make a big difference.
"It has saved lives," Golden said.
In an email to parents, Boise School District said "GoGuardian has consulted with privacy experts, participates in privacy organizations, is a proud signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge, and has been awarded certifications by iKeepSafe for complying with both the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act and California student privacy laws (which have served as a model for many other states' student privacy laws)."
BSD reminds those involved with the district to contact school counselors for more information on consultation. Individuals can also use the resources available below:
Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline: (208) 398-HELP
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, or text 'TALK' to 741741 at the Crisis Text Line.
The Trevor Project Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ young people: 1-866-488-7386
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