Mentor board reviews changes to student suicide and abuse-prevention training policy
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Summary
Boarders discussed revisions to Neola policy 8462 after public concern that the draft removes requirements that trainings be "evidence-based" and delivered by law enforcement or prosecutors; administration said practices will remain aligned with best practices and staff are meeting with community members to bridge gaps.
The Mentor Exempted Village Board of Education heard public concern Tuesday about proposed changes to Neola policy 8462, which governs youth suicide prevention and child-abuse-prevention training for school staff.
Parents and a retired suicidologist urged the board to keep a requirement that prevention programs be evidence-based and noted risks if schools move away from scientifically supported interventions. “I would hope that our schools will continue to rely on scientifically derived interventions and not imagine — I cannot imagine a good reason to remove the requirement for evidence-based interventions from policy 8462,” said John Sanford during the meeting’s public-comment period.
Board discussion and administration remarks centered on changes in state law enacted this year. Superintendent-level staff said House Bill 96 removed a statutory requirement that the training be provided specifically by law-enforcement officers or prosecutors and altered the state’s role in producing model curriculum. District officials told the board the draft policy updates reflect that changed state requirement.
“House Bill 96 modified the law to strike the requirement that the training be provided by law enforcement or prosecutors,” a district presenter said during the board’s policy review, adding the law now asks districts to consult with public or private agencies when developing curricula. The district said it currently provides the materials through its health curriculum and online training systems and that staff have already met with community members who raised concerns.
Student speakers and other commenters pressed the board to preserve language requiring evidence-based programs. “Simply removing the words ‘evidence-based’ takes the program from effective and predictable results to simply guesswork,” said Zoey Behringer, who shared results from student surveys showing many students say they have not received prevention education.
Administrators responded that the policy revision is meant to give districts flexibility while practice will continue to follow best practices. “In reality, it’s not going to change our practice much. It’s just updating things to give a little more flexibility so that this does not have to be done by a law enforcement officer or prosecutor,” the district presenter said. Board members pressed for assurances that the district will keep relying on evidence-based approaches; one board member said she wanted “support to keep that language in order to ensure that we would always be following evidence-based practices.”
Superintendent-level staff said they have met with the student who conducted surveys and with the director of student services and that the district will continue to incorporate recommended programs into health courses. Officials also said the district plans to provide materials and a plan to the board before the policy’s second reading.
No final vote on the policy took place; the board treated the item as a first reading, meaning the policy remains under consideration. Administrators said they expect to return for a second reading in November and will share additional details about curricula, delivery and how the district documents training for staff identified by state law.
The board did not adopt or rescind any training programs at the meeting; the session recorded public comment and administrative explanations and left the policy to a future vote.
