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Board directs staff to craft regulation requiring coach suicide-prevention training after hearing Project Stay proposal
Summary
Emma White proposed Project Stay, a free two-hour suicide-prevention training for coaches and volunteers funded in part by a five-year Garrett Lee Smith grant; trustees asked staff to draft regulation language requiring district-approved coaches and volunteers to complete training and to refer details to the policy committee.
Emma White, contracted youth suicide-prevention coordinator for the Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention and president of the Life Is Worth It Organization, told the Churchill County School District board that rural Nevada faces high suicide rates and gaps in youth mental-health care and proposed a coach-focused training program called Project Stay.
White said Nevada recorded 674 suicide deaths in 2024 and that youth mental-health shortages and distance to care remain a challenge. She described the Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) youth-suicide-prevention grant that funds a multi-county program (Carson City, Churchill and Elko among the partners) and provides about $735,000 per year for five years for upstream prevention and early intervention strategies. As part of that effort, Project Stay offers a two-hour, in-person training for coaches and volunteers who work with youth, with an option for a virtual or train-the-trainer model to increase local capacity.
White urged the district to adopt a local policy or regulation requiring that any adult who is district-approved to work with teams or student activities complete annual suicide-prevention and mental-health awareness training. She said Project Stay is free to districts and that the program is tailored to coaches’ environments — for example, how to respond during tournaments and how to engage families — and is designed to be offered in off-season quarterly sessions to maximize attendance.
Trustees and staff supported the idea and discussed where the requirement should live within district governance. Several trustees suggested placing the mandate in district regulation rather than policy so the board can direct staff and preserve flexibility for program design. Superintendent Parsons and board members emphasized that the program could be implemented administratively in the short term while the policy/regulation is developed. Trustees also noted that existing district suicide-prevention policies provide a foundation and that Project Stay could expand protection by reaching non-staff adults who are trusted by students.
The board directed staff and the policy committee to draft regulatory language for a coach-and-volunteer training requirement and to return the proposal for committee review. White said she and the Office of Suicide Prevention will continue to support scheduling and training delivery.
The board’s action does not immediately create a binding district-wide mandate; it directs staff to prepare regulation language and implementation details for future board consideration.
