Sayville board highlights suicide-prevention steps, plans stone memorials and continued outreach

Trustees and administrators on Sept. 11 reviewed local suicide-prevention efforts and a community-led rail-safety initiative that is planning stone placards at the Sayville train station with crisis-line information.

Trustee Kathy (last name in transcript Vandoren/Vandorn referenced) described earlier contacts with MTA and a nonprofit and said that, following site visits, the group expects to install stone placards at the train-station landings on each side of Sayville—s station. She described the plaques as 4-foot square stones with a short message and the crisis line number 988. "They actually came out... and then there was a surprise visitor... who runs a nonprofit organization because his son did take his life, death by a train," she said.

Jolene Macris (assistant/administrator) detailed the stone text the group intends to use: "Your pain is real but so is hope. Call or text 988, crisis lifeline. We're here. We care. We'll listen." The board discussed the project and noted that fencing on commuter-rail property would be a much larger, multimillion-dollar undertaking and that incremental measures and messaging at the station are the near-term steps the district and partners can pursue.

District staff also described local programming: high-school Anchor Club members helped hang purple ribbons for "Islip Goes Purple" (drug and suicide prevention awareness), smaller-group student wellness activities in lunch periods, targeted parent workshops and classroom-level trusted-adult activities for elementary students. Administrators emphasized developmentally appropriate outreach for younger students and targeted small-group approaches at the high school.

Ending: The board said it will coordinate with outside partners and volunteers on the stone installation and continue wellness events and parent education programming across the school year.