Letter to SM South and the Expert Panel

to megan.younger, chris, joegilhaus, jimhinson, askthedistrict,

Good afternoon,

As the mother of Sara Prideaux, I want to thank you both Megan and Chris for coming to SM South. I wish I had more emails address so that I could personally thank every one for being there.  Thank you both for coming last night to speak to the school.  What you all presented should be done in an assembly where all the kids can hear as well as the parents. It should be presented at the next PTA meeting.  It was very valuable information and just might have saved my daughter had I heard it 8 weeks ago.  I would appreciate having the information that you gave out in regards to apps and phone numbers for kids. I need to be able to give the kids resources since the school doesn't appear to be giving them what they are asking for. I have emails and texts stating this from kids and parents as well as you were able to hear some of that during the forum last night.  While I understand that using the "After Suicide" kit is great but that is just like teaching a child how to swim after they have drown. Doesn't really do a lot of good. I will not sit idle by while the principle dances around politics and policies and our children are left feeling hopeless and killing themselves. I also wanted to share with you that I fact it was worse than I had thought last night, at least 5 kids and parents came to me this morning upset that they weren't told about the meeting, the school was hush hush, that they felt unsupported by the administration or they were told the meeting was about things happening in the school not suicide. I feel bad that you spent hours of your time for what seemed like no effort by SM South. Its tragic that more people were not included. Dr Dain said that he invited every school in SM district yet no one came to support it. I find that hard to believe. I recorded most of the event including where Dr. Dain said that they children knew they had support yet the students spoke up and said they didn't.I recorded where the social workers said that they only spoke to the Freshman class once a year about where the counseling office was. WOW once a year, they tell one class where help is located, boy are they opening themselves up for issues. So for the last year of my daughter's life she had no one to help her since she wasn't a freshman. I also recorded when the many students spoke up telling them that they didn't feel supported and he danced around the issue. I recorded when the social workers told the group that the teachers are there eyes and ears and that they don't have time to spend meeting with the kids, yet the teachers have no formal training to handle this.  I know that you met with many people last night offering suggestions and support. I appreciate that. I know that some of the experts also provided the school with free options and ideas which I would also like to be looped into what those are. When we head to the public forum at the school board, I would like to ensure that I know what my options are. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.
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Thanks,

Allie Doss

913-980-9494

My blog below

celebratesara.blogspot.com 

Todd Dain-Principle-todddain@smsd.org

Joe Gilhouse-Above Principle Dain-joegilhaus@smsd.org

Jim Hinson-Superintendent- jimhinson@smsd.org
askthedistrict@smsd.org They dont answer my emails :)
Deb Zila-Board of Education South- debzila@smsd.org