Editor’s note: This report is about suicide and suicidal ideation.
The South Orange & Maplewood community in New Jersey has been through some very tough times. Schools superintendent Jason Bing says at least five young people enrolled at the public Columbia High School (CHS) have attempted to die by suicide this year. In December, one CHS student died in an accident; another young person, enrolled at a private school but known to many CHS students, died by suicide the same month.
The School District of South Orange & Maplewood’s most immediate response to this mental health crisis: it removed Junot Díaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao from a high-level English class at CHS, which serves the suburban towns of South Orange & Maplewood about 15 miles west of New York City. After pushback from parents and students, the district said that parents could sign a permission form to allow their children to study the novel in class – a scenario which PEN America, the group dedicated to free expression, still classifies as a “book ban.” The district also said it plans to implement an opt-in mental health screening for all CHS students, as well as shore up its current mental health offerings…