Board reviews expanded suicide prevention, intervention and postvention regulation aligned with state toolkit

Carson City School District trustees combined discussion of Policy 2.70 (suicide prevention, intervention and postvention) and its accompanying regulation during the June 10 meeting, receiving a detailed presentation from Christy Perkins, director of MTSS and student wellness, and Christina Sapien, a licensed clinical social worker who oversees Project AWARE services.

Perkins told trustees the policy itself required only minor language updates but the regulation had been heavily revised over many months to remove outdated references, avoid naming specific screening tools and align procedures with current best practices and state guidance. "We removed places and programs that don't even exist anymore, such as West Hills Hospital," Perkins said, and the team replaced named tools with the broader phrase "research-based screening or intervention." Christina Sapien explained the district has expanded training and that school-based mental health teams now include social workers, counselors, nurses and school resource officers so staff are not responding in isolation.

Key changes discussed - Suicide point of contact (SPC): the regulation clarifies that an SPC at each site will coordinate communications and response instead of multiple staff giving out inconsistent information. - Screening and trained staff: the regulation removes tool names (for example, the ASQ) to allow the district to use evolving evidence-based screeners; trained screeners include district social workers, counselors, nurses and other staff who complete designated training. - Crisis holds and transport: Perkins explained that under Nevada practice a school site social worker, law enforcement, a registered nurse, psychologist or clinical therapist may initiate a mental health crisis hold; certification and release of the hold must be performed by specified medical professionals at the receiving facility. - Threat assessments and duty to warn: the regulation adds a process for comprehensive threat assessments and cites the duty to warn (board members asked staff to note both the state statute NRS 629.55 and the Tarasoff/duty-to-warn principle in the regulation). - Postvention planning: the district will follow a state postvention toolkit and maintain a district crisis response team that will meet biannually to review implementation, with training and documentation requirements for staff, students and parents.

Trustees asked for clarifications and minor edits. Several trustees asked the regulation to consistently use the term "site administrator" rather than alternating with "principal." Trustee Varner and others requested definitions and acronyms be tightened so the document clearly distinguishes a school site response team from the district crisis response team. Trustee Mike asked about funding and whether certain programs were grant-supported; staff said some prevention curricula and screenings (Signs of Suicide, Erica's Lighthouse) have been paid by grants and community partnerships, Columbia screening tools are free to use, and the district intends to bill Medicaid in the future for some crisis-intervention services where eligible.

Perkins and Sapien underscored parental notification rules: parents are notified when screenings or interventions indicate risk and may opt out of universal fall screenings; staff also described narrow circumstances that permit immediate external reporting to law enforcement or child-protective services if doing so is necessary to preserve student safety. Perkins said the district has developed flowcharts and MOUs with community partners to improve reentry communication after hospitalization.

No formal action was taken; trustees asked staff to return a cleaned, consistent version of the regulation with clarified definitions and statutory references.