Jason Flatt Act suspected to be advantageous to Kansas

Editorial Board

This editorial is a compilation from a discussion held by the editorial board.

Senate Bill 323, also known as the Jason Flatt Act, has made its way into the Kansas Legislature. While there hasn’t been a ruling yet, parents all over the state have been advocating for it. The bill would require school officials and teachers to undergo two hours of suicide prevention training annually.  One Kansas mother in particular, Cathy Housh, is passionate about the cause after losing her daughter to suicide in 2011.

According to WIBW, the government would not be funding the training and it would be up to the city. However, Andrew Brown of the National Suicide Prevention Headquarters later went on to mention that they would find resources to fund the program in the state.

The Mentor editorial board discussed this bill and agreed that the bill could provide many advantages, as long as school officials are prepared for all possible outcomes or challenges. These challenges include backlash from parents of suicidal children, identifying all types of depression and how to confront suicidal teenagers without making them feel worse.

School officials need to be able to confront children who may be suicidal in a sensitive way but also be able to sense whether the child is really okay when they say they are or if they’re just uncomfortable with talking about the subject. They need to be able to identify the difference between a child who truly doesn’t want to talk about their suicidal ideations and a child who wants to talk about it but feels like a burden and chooses not to talk about it. Officials would also need to be able to deal with any backlash that may come from the parents of a suicidal child when they are notified of the circumstance.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 16.9 percent of high school students seriously consider suicide and 8.4% percent have attempted. The New England Journal of Medicine reports that suicide is the third leading cause of death in 15-19 year olds and parents aren’t aware of 90 percent of suicide attempts in teens. Passing the act could easily reduce the number of suicide among teens throughout the state.

Since the bill has not been ruled on yet in the state of Kansas, USD 383 administrators say Manhattan High does not have anything in place. However, MHS faculty underwent a half day of training in suicide prevention tactics at the beginning of the school year. The Kansas Legislature will be addressing the bill this week.