FROM STAFF REPORTS

Iredell-Statesville Schools has taken a multi-faceted approach to identifying students who are considering taking their own life and making sure they have access to mental health services.

I-SS Chief Student Services Officer Shayla Savage provided an overview of the district’s efforts during the July 8 school board meeting.

From the use of anonymous reporting apps to monitoring students’ search histories to providing counseling for students and their families, the district has invested significant resources to identifying at-risk students and getting them help, Savage told the board.

“Anytime anyone commits suicide, whether it be a student, one of our parents, community members, it impacts us all,” she said.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among children and young adults age 10-24, and 9 percent of high school students reported a suicide attempt in 2022, Savage said.

Among North Carolina’s 100 counties, Iredell ranked ninth with a suicide rate of 17.3 per 100,000 people, based on data from 2017-2022. There were 259 confirmed suicides in Iredell County from 2011-2020.

Nationally, the suicide rate was 14.3 per 100,000 in 2022.

I-SS utilizes the Say Something app, which allows students, teachers and other staff to make an anonymous report when they are concerned about a student’s mental health. During the 2023-2024 school year, district staff received 459 tips.

When a tip is received, principals and counselors respond immediately to help connect the student with mental health services. In response to 55 of the tips, Iredell County EMS personnel were dispatched to a student’s home.

The district’s technology team uses Lightspeed, an internet filter, to monitor student’s computer usage. This software generated 48,238 alerts, which are sent to the I-SS technology team for further investigation. The alerts are referred to administrative staff at the student’s school for follow-up.

I-SS staff responds 24 hours a day to threats, including nights, holidays, weekends and during the summer. The district is also working to improve the response time to information received from the Say Something app and Lightspeed.

“We know seconds count anytime there is a threat to self,” she said. “That is important.”

The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office also plays an important role in student safety as well, Savage said. Every I-SS school has at least one school resource officer assigned by the ICSO, which also employs two threat assessment officers.

Each school has a team that responds to concerns that a student is considering self-harm or harming others, Savage said.

In 2023-2024, students received 164 crisis referrals, 745 therapy/assessment referrals, 6,687 therapy sessions and 575 family therapy sessions.

In addition, school-based social workers had 16,958 contacts with students, including 384 home visits.
In January of 2025, the district will hire 12 additional school-based therapists, increasing the number employed by I-SS to 22.

All district staff have received training to identify at-risk students and will receive additional training in 2024-2025.

Savage said that building relationships between students and school staff are an essential component of suicide prevention.

“Relationships will always be something we can work on. Until every single child in this county has a connection to one adult in the building, we can always work on relationships,” she said. “We need every single student to feel like they have someone that they can go to and talk to”

Superintendent Jeff James said the district has a solid foundation for helping students struggling with mental health issues. But, he said, it’s not an issue that I-SS can solve on its own.

“It takes the whole county. It takes the faith-based community. It takes all of us because if you think a child won’t commit suicide then lo and behold you might unfortunately be standing at their grave site,” he said.