An increase in student suicides has spurred the fifth largest U.S. school district to accelerate the return to personal learning

An increase in student suicides has spurred the fifth largest U.S. school district to accelerate the return to personal learning

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The Clark County School District in Nevada, with more than 326,000 students enrolled, has been completely remote since March 2020 – when the Covid-19 pandemic began. In the nine months since March, there have been 19 suicides in the district, a school official confirmed to CNN. The previous year it was only nine.

The district did not provide evidence of a direct link between deaths and distance education. However, six students died by suicide between March 16 and June 30, and 12 students died between July 1 and December 31. There was another death earlier this month, a district official confirmed to CNN on Monday.

With reference to social and emotional well-being, the Clark County Board of Trustees unanimously voted to begin bringing students back to a meeting on January 14 for personal learning.

“The COVID-19 pandemic remains very challenging for education,” said Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara said. “We will continue to make the health and safety of students and staff a top priority. As we continue to look at the academic and health crisis caused by the pandemic, I believe the proposed plan provides the first steps in the return of our students and educators to the classroom. ‘

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The district has put in place an early warning system to monitor the student’s mental health and well-being. Using the system, students received more than 4,300 virtual wellness tests and more than 1,400 personal wellness tests. Suicide protocols have been initiated thirty times since March 2020, according to a report issued by the district.

The district report also outlined the long-term, long-term academic level of student tension, saying that 90.4% of schools had given more Fs this year than last year, and that 77.2% of schools gave more Ds than last year. Among those who achieved an F during the fall semester, 11.2% of them earned all Aces and Bs in the fall of 2019.

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As Covid-19 cases climb across the country, the school districts are faced with an impossible dilemma to protect the mental health of students by returning to the classroom or keeping physical health at home.

In October, a group of researchers warned about the effects of mental health on Covid-19, predicting a second wave of issues such as increased deaths from suicide and drug overdoses.
However, some teachers in the US have died from the virus – which has led some educators to move to all virtual classes.

In an article published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that the spread seen in busy offices and long-term care facilities was not reported in schools.

In-school transfer took place, but the researchers said there was little evidence that it contributed significantly to the larger transfer of the community.
For help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). There is also a crisis text line. Call 1-888-628-9454 for crisis support in Spanish.

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