Policy committee adds 'perceived' risk language to suicide-prevention rule

The Wallingford School District policy committee reviewed revisions to the district’s suicide-prevention policy (Policy 5141), adding a clarification that staff may act when a student’s suicidal intent is "perceived." Carrie Latour, the district staff member presenting the policies, told the committee the sole substantive change to the policy text is inserting the word "perceived" to expand when the district may respond to a student at risk.

Latour said the regulation carries the policy update into more specific operational language and includes a technical edit to add a child’s therapist to the list of relevant contacts in the regulation. "If the school system thinks the child may be at suicidal risk, they can start to respond to those students' needs in a little bit more of a specific way," Latour said.

No formal vote was recorded during the Policy Committee meeting; the changes were presented for committee review and will be reflected in the published policy and regulation documents if adopted through the district’s standard approval process. The committee did not receive public comment on this item.

The committee noted the update aligns district language with recent statutory or regulatory expectations and clarified how staff should document and act when they reasonably perceive a student is at risk. The district will post the revised policy and corresponding regulation text and associated forms on its website where board policies and forms are kept.