Starting Jan. 1, 2017, school districts in Kansas will be required to train teachers and staff every year to spot potential suicide warning signs. Gov. Sam Brownback signed the Jason Flatt Act into law Wednesday afternoon.
Families who lost children to suicide attended the signing ceremony at Brownback’s office, including Cathy Housh of Johnson County. Housh’s teenage daughter Cady took her own life in 2014.
“A lot of comfort knowing that we are going to make a difference,” Housh said. “I know that her legacy will save hundreds, if not thousands, of kids in the state of Kansas.”
Housh told 41 Action News last year that she began pushing for suicide awareness in schools after learning her daughter told a classmate she felt suicidal but didn’t know where to turn for help.
“Channel 41 and Patrick Fazio, you were amazing. You stayed behind the scenes and you kept making phone calls to see where it was at and that helped,” Housh said during the bill signing ceremony.
Kansas support
Soon after our report, State Sen. Greg Smith (R-Overland Park) introduced the Jason Flatt Act bill earlier this year.
“This is one of those bills that not only makes you feel good, it actually does good,” said Smith.
Smith also works as a teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District and recognized the importance of training teachers to spot potential warning signs of suicide.
“It's the second leading cause of death for teenagers, actually all the way up to age 24, across the nation and in Kansas. That's a scary stat,” Smith said.
Law in 19 states
Lawmakers in both the Kansas Senate and House unanimously passed the Jason Flatt Act bill in May and sent it to Brownback for final approval.
Kansas becomes the 19th state to adopt the Jason Flatt Act, which offers free online training for suicide awareness. Tennessee first passed it in 2007.
“The next three years, suicide rates in Tennessee went down 28.3 percent,” said Clark Flatt.
Clark Flatt started the Jason Flatt Act in memory of his son to try to prevent other teens from ending their lives.
“They'll be young people alive in the coming years here in Kansas that wouldn't have been alive if we haven't started training the teachers here,” Clark Flatt told 41 Action News.
Stalled in Missouri
Missouri lawmakers never got a chance to vote on the Jason Flatt Act before the legislative session ended in May. State Rep. Randy Dunn (D-Kansas City) introduced the bill after seeing our story on Housh’s daughter.
A bipartisan House committee unanimously approved the bill in March, but the speaker of the House never put the bill on the calendar until 41 Action News confronted him in May.
“It will go on the calendar,” House Speaker Todd Richardson (R-Missouri) told us when we tracked him down. “That bill will have a chance.”
Richardson did put the bill on the calendar, but it was never introduced on the House floor for a vote.
“I'm going to hold him to those words moving forward next year,” Dunn told us.
Dunn plans to reintroduce the Jason Flatt Act bill in the Missouri House in next year’s legislative session.
Resources
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or call them at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).
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Patrick Fazio can be reached at patrick.fazio@kshb.com.
