Sparta Area School District received a Suicide Prevention Grant that runs for three years beginning in the school year of 2006-2007.  We teamed with Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton School District and our two schools are part of a greater consortium of Suicide Prevention projects throughout the state of Wisconsin.  Both School Districts pursued the grant based on data received on the Youth At-Risk Behavior Survey our 6-12th grade students take every year and the fact that both our communities are concerned about recent attempted and completed suicides.  Following are the goals and objectives of the grant to address our efforts to prevent suicide:

• Establish a suicide prevention policy

• Engage screening, parent information and     services referral (Columbia Teenscreen)

• Inform parents of results of teen screen

• Develop a referral process with area mental health/substance abuse service providers including procurement of services for students without insurance coverage

• Train staff in suicide prevention and intervention

• Train staff in suicide-related topics including awareness/overview, improving classroom instruction, crisis response, screening, assessment and action planning

• Develop crisis response policies/procedures

• Develop programming needs related to risk factors

• Examine the link between AODA use/abuse and suicide

• Examine link between bullying and suicide