By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The lawsuit against White Pass School District – sued by the family of a sophomore who committed suicide – is over, with a Lewis County Superior Court judge ruling this morning school officials had no duty to notify Brian Stephens’ family of a suicide note they learned of or a possible suicide pact between two students
Brian Stephens, 16, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head, inside a Tacoma man’s vacation mobile home in Packwood in May 2009.
Brian Stephens
His grandmother Debbie Reisert, with whom he lived, never heard about the note until months afterward. She wasn’t called when the high school counselor brought her grandson into his office to ask him if he was suicidal.
Days before Brian’s death, one of his friends had taken 30 Ibuprofen pills one morning and then went to school. When the counselor learned of it, the boy was taken away in an ambulance to Morton General Hospital where he was treated and subsequently released.
A female classmate told counselors Brian had passed her a note in English class, writing that if his friend killed himself, he would too.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by Brian’s family never went to trial.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey today granted a summary judgement requested by the school district.
“Is there a duty in the first place?” Brosey asked lawyers this morning. “That’s the issue we’re dealing with today.”
Brosey said the answer was no, based on case law.
“If the court of appeals or the Supreme Court want to declare there is, that’s up to them,” he said.
Tukwila attorney Philip Talmadge who represented the White Pass School District said the district feels horrible about the tragic circumstances, but they are not legally culpable.
The school counselor talked to the young man and he denied he was suicidal, Talmadge said.
He said the grandmother claimed she had previously had a long conversation with the counselor, asking him to inform her if he noticed anything amiss. But the counselor Justin Neilson didn’t recall the conversation exactly the same way, he said.
“Before you can have liability, you have to have a duty, as a matter of law,” Talmadge said.
He said it’s a question for the legislature, should it want to make such laws. There are many variables that would need to be addressed, he said.
“The Idaho legislature did that,” he said.
The family attorney Kevin Coluccio said he doesn’t yet know if they will appeal.
“I think what’s disappointing to us, is the school district won’t be held accountable for withholding information about kids,” Coluccio said. “Because mom and grandmother didn’t have the information, they couldn’t take action.”
Coluccio said some changes have been made, in part due to efforts by his clients.
The governor recently signed legislation that requires suicide education training for educators and some notification requirements, he said.
He called Brian’s death, or any child to suicide, a great tragedy.
“My hope is that this caused them to re-evaluate, to take more seriously the threat of teen suicide,” Coluccio said.
•••
For the in-depth story surrounding Brian Stephen’s death, read “Packwood teen’s suicide to be revisited, in court” from Sunday July 1, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
So are you suggesting that they put teenagers in prisons instead of school? I know more than a few politicians who would eagerly sign up for that.
A felon while incarcerated who shows suicidal tendencies will get 24 hour suicide watch and access to mental Heathcare. A teenager with a suicide note will get sent back to class with no phone call to the parent or guardian.
Last week there was an article on MSN about a girl that was raped at a party, pictures were taken of the rape and spread throughout the school on social media. The school notified the police but not the parents. The girl committed suicide because of the event, and her parents were NEVER informed about the ordeal until after the funeral, and not by the school or police. How can the school go to the police without informing the parents? How can the police investigate without informing the parents? Mind boggling……
Sad too that the girl thought that the only way out was to kill herself. I would hope that if she had gone to her parents or a trusted adult that she could have gotten help.
As a generation of parents, what are we doing to our children that they think that parents are against them and will not help them? Have we become unforgiving to the point that our children are too afraid or embarrassed to seek help? What can we as a society do to become more connected with the next generation? Not the “whole village” thing, but obviously something has got to give.
so sorry to hear about this. miss you, brian. rest easy
Mr. Frankle, unfortunately when your kids are away from the house for 8 hours a day, you don’t always know whats going on. Unfortunately, the more likely a child is to have a problem, the more likely they are to hide the problem, and the more skilled they get at hiding it. Often times the only way we as parents have of finding out what is the problem is for someone to talk to us. As bad as those officials probably feel now, it is nothing in comparison to how his parents and grandmother feel. The damned if you do damned if you don’t idea is a cop out. If I see a toddler standing in the street, I grab that baby and run it to its parents. I don’t stop to think…oh shoot they might call the police on me because they think I am kidnapping their child, or they might be mad at me because I might think they are a bad parent for not watching there kid closely enough. I do the right thing and I do everything in my power to save that childs life, even risking my own life if necessary. If my child’s life is in possible danger, if he wrote a note saying he was going to kill himself, if there is a possiblity that someone in school has raped my daughter or has put my son at the top of a hit list, I deserve to know about it. I am the one who should decide what to do, not someone else. These schools don’t believe that. They have our children for most of the hours of their entire childhood and they don’t give one crap about what we don’t know. They in their all knowing all powerful minds believe they have everything to meet your childs needs, all you need to do is feed them at night, help them with their homework, and leave the important stuff to them. You may have a great relationship with your child right now. They may be open and honest with you about everything, but you are kidding yourself if you think that will continue if they do decide to head down a wrong path and this story should serve as the most powerful warning, a life and death decision warning, that the school districts are not on your side, they are not your friend, and they will not tell you when there is a problem.
What’s with you people??????? You seriously think the teachers and counselors at White pass are HAPPY this kid killed himself????? Like they are having a party or something??? So the next time a kid goes to a counselor and the parents are contacted, they might get pissed off “because there is nothing wrong with their kid” and sue the school! Damned if you do, damned if you dont!! PARENTS need to KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THERE KIDS LIVES!!!!! And quit trying to lay blame when BAD things happen!!!!!!!!
jj: unfortunately you are mistaken when you say if a student threatens another student it is reported. Our school district had a hit list created by a student. District officials did not contact parents or police. A parent accidently found out from their child and they contacted police. Thats just the beginning. Rape of a child by a teenager, not reported because the counselor decided that the child was lying. Turns out she wasn’t and again a parent accidently found out and contacted police. There was dna evidence proving the crime occured. Nothing will ever happen to that counselor because she made a judgement call and she can’t be held liable for it. Parents if you think that there is mandatory reporting for abuse, assaults and rapes you are sorely mistaked. I thought there was. Turns out its only mandatory to report to a supervisor and the buck stops there, if the supervisor of your childs school doesn’t feel its necessary to call you or the police, you will never find out if your child is raped, assaulted or abused. The law consistently protects admin on this as well. If they “judge” that no crime was committed, they cannot be prosecuted in the state or be sued. If you think your children are safe at school, or that the people at school are a team with you, part of a “village” with you helping to keep your kids safe, you are dead wrong. This poor family learned the hard way, the local school districts show by their actions that you are a non entity in your childs life, you have no right to know what happens to your child or to make decisions in the best interests of your child. When you send your kids off to school in the morning, the minute they step foot on school property you lose all rights to know anything beyond what the schools see fit for you to know.
reason #126 I pulled my child from public education system….
I hope the family will appeal.
I think you raised a very important point, jj. They call when a student makes a threat against someone else-why not when they make one toward themselves. If suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young folks, it seems to me ANY threat should be taken seriously.
Imagine the stink that would be raised if a child went to the school nurse complaining of severe chest pains, the nurse just deciding he wasn’t sick, failed to let anyone know and the kid died of a heart attack that night. Maybe an extreme comparasin but I see teen suicide as a health issue. It is difficult to treat in part because teens just don’t open up to adults about it much. That’s why schools need to be partners with parents the same way they do if kids aren’t keeping up or are not coming to school. Even for the most diligent, being a parent is a scary business. It does take a village.
LEGAL OR MORAL AN OBLIGATION IS AN OBLIGATION. The damages are this kids life. IF THE SCHOOL KNEW and could have prevented by making a phone call to the parents, it they are liable. I dont know whats stopping the prosecutor from charging this counsellor for assisting suidcide. Ignorance is no excuse. If a doctor makes a mistake on the operating table and it takes a life hes liable. If a councellor makes the wrong call on a suicide note and it takes a life id say hes liable too. After all they are professionals or atleast paid like one.
Suicidal people commonly commit violence sometimes homicide on others before killing themselves. We need to know so we can keep guns locked up and seek professional help. I believe it was the old liberal hilary clinton who once said “it takes a village to raise a child.” School counselors report child abuse because the law says so. They offer little or no support when it comes talking about the the kids problems face to face. Counselors are more like mediators for the interests of the school. They will not act till the kid acts out and does something wrong like bringing a weapon or drugs to school. Where is the quality education and instruction that the taxpayers are
hemmoraging 100s million$ for annually? When is the safety of the students a priority? To me this is a safety issue and in light of the recent school shootings (columbine, sandy hook, virginia tech) The psyhcological health of the students needs to be evaluated and warnings should be taken seriously and reported to the parents back home to prevent a tragedy and put the guns in the gun safe. It makes sense. The school dropped the ball. Schools are unsafe and the school adminstrators are too busy lieing to cover it up to actually do anything about it. But yet the becka bill turns kids into criminals by sending them to juvi for not showing up to school. The education system forces kids into a unsafe enviroment to me thats a little effed up.
Absolutly deplorable, why should we not have the right to know whats going on with our students?
The school calls when a class is skipped…they call when a bullying letter is sent to another student, they call when your student makes any threats against another student or teacher. Why not a threat against themselves?
So many young ones talk of suicide or write letters of suicide as a cry for help. Well obviously the family needs to be involved! Of course they have a right to know! It’s their child. I would be absolutly disgusted if this was my child and no one took the time to tell me of a note…maybe something could have been done, maybe the parents could have helped the child get to the root of the problem.
Gotten the young man couseling…or into the big brothers program…or sent him to a family member they can trust for him to open up too, maybe all he needed was for someone to hear him.
Having lost a good friend in highschool because of bullying, he hung himself. If someone would have listened to his threats or taken time to consider him, maybe he would be here too.
what is this world coming too, the parents ALWAYS have the RIGHT to know what is going on with THEIR student ALWAYS.
There needs to be a petition started and get this act in order before it happens again. Because for some these are not just words to get attention, and sometimes not even a cry for help…it’s words of their plan because they cannot take life anymore…
just to bad, my heart and prayers go out to this family in this difficult time. I cannot imagine the pain of losing one of my little ones, may the Lord bless and keep you…
Very well said, Lisarae.
Legally obligated, perhaps not so much. Morally obligated……….absolutely. More and more public school officials are being put into a position of babysitting, as opposed to teaching. While I completely agree this is unacceptable, there is a line, that when crossed, should trigger obligation. Suicidal behavior, drugs, and abuse are all deal breakers, and we as a society have an obligation to protect our children, ALL of our children, and school officials, unfortunately or otherwise, are in a position to catch flags that others might miss. A couple years ago, my son got caught with marijuana by the local police. They were engaged in something else at the time, and tho police walked away, but took it upon themselves to notify the football coach of the combined White Pass/Morton football team. Per athletic policy, he was required to have a drug and alcohol assessment my the counselor @ WP. She determined him to have a drug problem, and required him to have weekly “sessions” with her. I was made aware of this by my child, with whom I have an open door policy with, and I was notified by the coach that he had been reported, and the “consequences” of this per athletic policy. However, not once, at any time, by any school official, was I notified that it was determined that my child was at risk. This woman took it upon herself to label my child in that manner, but not the obligation to notify me of this label? I certainly would not have blamed them had his path become more destructive, being his mother, I AM his keeper, he IS my responsibility, however, not all children have that support at home. Some children have no support at all. Let me reiterate, ALL children in this community are at risk. This is not the fault of the local schools, but I do believe on some level, they play a critical role in saving those children from self destruction. This IS their moral obligation……period. Shame on White Pass school district. Shame on you~