Recent suicides at Langley HS?

[Anonymous]

Please have the tiniest morsel of decency and take wild speculation to a different thread. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. What is the matter with people who post these idiotic comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe, as parents, we are all guilty. I know I supported the trophy for everyone mentality. Not sure I would do that again passed six years old.

This:
"Maybe, as parents, we're all guilty."
School staff to. It takes a village.
All of us together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:To be perfectly honest, these posters don't know the boy.

Do you know anything?

I know a lot first hand. But what is known publicly is that the family of the second boy (the first family does not want anything publicly known) has asked that donations in his memory be made to the Josh Anderson Foundation for teenagers dealing with depression.

How are the funds spent?

I'm sure a Google search search would provide that information.

Thanks. Just read about Josh's nightmare. He was also a student at Langley. I appreciate how much his family shared. Perhaps the current two families will be ready at some point in the future. We have so much to learn here. But how can we, if the secrets are hushed? We know that some medications are prone to cause suicidal tendencies. But if neither student was using prescriptions, then that wasn't a factor here. But we have no clue, so let's keep guessing what factors played into these two tragedies. What have we learned?

Excuse me, but you know nothing. Josh Anderson was a student at South Lakes HS. Stop trying to blame every case of depression and/or suicide on Langley!

Indeed. After he got expelled from Langley, South Lakes accepted him. And?

I wonder how the families of these boys feel, knowing how complete strangers are actually relishing the details of their child's life and speculating about what led their beloved son to take his life. I also wonder how any of you would feel if the shoe were on the other foot. Is there not an ounce of empathy in your bodies? Not only for the boys, but also for their families?

Silence does not equate with empathy, as I see it. Working to really understand the struggles of these high school suicides, does. What are you proposing? Just smile and say we're sorry. That's fine as long as you don't stop there, for God's sake.

You are grossly, and sadly, mistaken if you think anyone on this forum is "relishing" anything.
Please grow up a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

+100

I also agree 110%.
There's only one sure way to eliminate undesired speculation:
State the facts. If the families are trying to keep things hushed, it only gets worse. Something tells me it's the school working hard to distance itself from any responsibility. IMO, we all share some responsibility. We owe it to these students (and the ones who went before them), to make some changes. All of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

I also agree 110%.
There's only one sure way to eliminate undesired speculation:
State the facts. If the families are trying to keep things hushed, it only gets worse. Something tells me it's the school working hard to distance itself from any responsibility. IMO, we all share some responsibility. We owe it to these students (and the ones who went before them), to make some changes. All of us.

Here's the fact, stated on this thread already about ten times: Depression. He was depressed. Not hushed, not speculation. Depression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

I also agree 110%.
There's only one sure way to eliminate undesired speculation:
State the facts. If the families are trying to keep things hushed, it only gets worse. Something tells me it's the school working hard to distance itself from any responsibility. IMO, we all share some responsibility. We owe it to these students (and the ones who went before them), to make some changes. All of us.

Here's the fact, stated on this thread already about ten times: Depression. He was depressed. Not hushed, not speculation. Depression.

News flash ----

Depression is a symptom. You know, like cancer.
It's what eventually happens when some things have been going very wrong.

[Anonymous]

According to that medical link someone posted:

Depression is typically caused by a combination of 3 factors:

1. "Enviornment"
That means everything you have to deal with.

2. "Psychology"
That means whatever you have going on in your head.

3. "Genetics"
That means how healthy your parents are, or aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What can we do? Now?
Who else is hurting and feeling hopeless?

1) Take solace in the fact that there are a lot of adults fighting on the kids' behalf
2) Kids need to be told that it WILL get better and their life, in fact, does NOT hinge on straight As or certain colleges
3) That parents are people with their own demons. That their behavior is not always a reflection of you, their kids, and that they can be dead wrong on things sometimes. Listen to your inner voice.
4) Hurt heals with time. So does hopelessness. Given enough time, things usually work out.

I find it troubling that adults NEED to be fighting on their kids' behalf, especially at Langley. Who are they fighting?
The Fairfax County School Board?
The principal?
The teachers?
Media hype on academia?

The craziness needs to stop now, not wait for the "future". Or must we first wait for more tragedies?

Langley (and other schools) can offer regular monthly faculty and parent education about what's really most important in growing healthy young people, starting next week. It isn't the kid's course list and grades, or activity list.

The pain of two deceased 17 year old students, who were so burdened with unbareable hardship, will never go away or get better. We'll have to deal with it every day for the rest of our lives, and ask ourselves what might we have done differently.

Let's all reexamine our priorities and ask what really matters. It just can't be "how good you look", with your school's status or your kid's college acceptance.

Media hype on academia is sheer nonsense.
Not every kid should be shoved into college, even at Langley.
Imagine the horror of supporting kids who march to a different drummer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

+100

I also agree 110%.
There's only one sure way to eliminate undesired speculation:
State the facts. If the families are trying to keep things hushed, it only gets worse. Something tells me it's the school working hard to distance itself from any responsibility. IMO, we all share some responsibility. We owe it to these students (and the ones who went before them), to make some changes. All of us.

The families requested that the school (and others, ahem) respect their privacy. The school is simply trying to honor the families' wishes and I applaud them for doing so. Has your family ever been touched by suicide? Ours has and I know from personal experience that in the aftermath, privacy is absolutely necessary for healing. There is nothing more deeply personal than a suicide and it's too bad you and the other 'speculators' here just don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Well said, PP. Sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a senior at Langley and friends with both, very close to one. The boys suffered from depression and were recently having a tough time. Very sad.

Thank you for posting this. My daughter chose to go to a private high school instead of Langley, but we are still a Great Falls family. She is on social media and knew about the deaths almost immediately. It's very difficult for a parent to answer their children's questions when the media does nothing but mention 2 LHS presumed suicides and then goes media silent. I understand the reasons why public schools and the media don't "follow up" on suicides, due to the past spikes in suicide. But perhaps their policies need to be changed or reviewed, BECAUSE now that social media is alive and well, all these kids have to rely on is anonymous speculation. How very sad.

+100

I also agree 110%.
There's only one sure way to eliminate undesired speculation:
State the facts. If the families are trying to keep things hushed, it only gets worse. Something tells me it's the school working hard to distance itself from any responsibility. IMO, we all share some responsibility. We owe it to these students (and the ones who went before them), to make some changes. All of us.

The families requested that the school (and others, ahem) respect their privacy. The school is simply trying to honor the families' wishes and I applaud them for doing so. Has your family ever been touched by suicide? Ours has and I know from personal experience that in the aftermath, privacy is absolutely necessary for healing. There is nothing more deeply personal than a suicide and it's too bad you and the other 'speculators' here just don't get it.

"Respecting privacy" is fine.
But if you mean pretend that these kids are having regular healthy lives, never.

That would be the worst LIE.

Why would you do that??

[Anonymous]

Can we please have the general discussion about teen emotional needs and depression on the parallel threads dedicated to those topics? No one's hiding anything.