TU Board recognizes Suicide Awareness Month

The Tempe Union High School Governing Board last week formally recognized September as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.

According to the CDC, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people 10-34 years old.

“I am very excited about where we are at and where we are going,” board member Andres Barraza said of the district’s own suicide prevention efforts. “It is not something we put numbers on and move on from,” he said. “It is dynamic.”

The resolution underscores the district’s support for early identification, interventions, and mental and social-emotional support. It also acknowledges no single measure or combination of suicide-prevention methods is sufficient for every student or staff scenario.

Mental Health America reported that “major depressive episodes” so far have been reported by 15% of youth this year – a 1.24% increase over 2022 and a 3.16% increase since 2018.

“What I believe is if we talk about suicide prevention at every level from the very top to the very bottom, everyone will see it as important,” said Vice President Amanda Steele.

Tempe Union has already implemented numerous pre- and post-pandemic initiatives that, according to Board President Armando Montero, have generated statewide interest in the district’s approach to the social-emotional well-being of students and staff.

“We have spent a lot of time these last several years working on our policy and a lot of diff erent partnerships and investment into this,” Montero said. “We have gotten a lot of interest statewide in how we do what we do. So, we are really a statewide leader in this area.”

Montero, who graduated in May with three bachelor’s degrees, was an early proponent in Tempe Union of more school efforts to combat teen suicide and raise awareness of mental health issues confronting young people.

As a Desert Vista student, he championed those efforts among his classmates and in appearances before the very board he now presides over.

The district employs a suicide prevention page on its website. The page includes 10 links to prevention articles and teen lifelines while posting the National Association of Psychologists’ “Preventing Youth Suicide: Tips for

Parents and Educators” in both English and Spanish front and center.

The association’s article provides suicide risk factors, such as conduct issues, substance abuse, and family stress, and warning signs, like notes, threats, preoccupation with death, and changes in overall personality. Barraza discussed being a JROTC student at Marcos de Niza High School and recalled one of his teachers who took his life in the school parking lot.

Noting that the suicide occurred 20 years ago, Barraza said that even today, he cannot enter Marcos de Niza’s parking lot without looking at the teacher’s old parking spot.

"When I went home, I could compartmentalize it, but today, it is all intertwined with social media and the internet,” he said. “It has become imperative that we have more social-emotional resources for our students and staff .”

Barraza directly credited Montero and Assistant Superintendent of District Operations Sean McDonald for the extensive progress the district has made over the past few years, including wellness rooms, counsel rooms, and the city funded youth specialist program.

Dr. Mary Keller said the district hired one social worker, two school counselors, and four psychologists, all off ering support to students within the district, each providing a diff erent area of expertise and resources.

Keller said there are no counselor vacancies within the district despite shortage of high schools nationally and in many Valley school districts.

“We have dedicated a lot of time as a board, and as a district, to mental health and social-emotional wellness,” Montero said. “We are really statewide leaders in this area.”