Recent suicides at Langley HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Which post are you responding to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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??

Should we not be asking "why"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Which post are you responding to?

Most all of them. I think a general discussion is better than rank speculation that is going on here about a specific boy loved by many many people. The loooong blue posts seem to be posted and reposted by insensitive ignorant people. This is a very important discussion to have -- but not by intertwining one boy's struggle with the offensive posturing found here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Which post are you responding to?

Most all of them. I think a general discussion is better than rank speculation that is going on here about a specific boy loved by many many people. The loooong blue posts seem to be posted and reposted by insensitive ignorant people. This is a very important discussion to have -- but not by intertwining one boy's struggle with the offensive posturing found here.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Which post are you responding to?

Most all of them. I think a general discussion is better than rank speculation that is going on here about a specific boy loved by many many people. The loooong blue posts seem to be posted and reposted by insensitive ignorant people. This is a very important discussion to have -- but not by intertwining one boy's struggle with the offensive posturing found here.

I really don't see how you hope to learn anything if you don't wish to allow specific victims to be mentioned.
This thread, btw, is about two boys, not one. You seem inappropriately adament with your demands.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Which post are you responding to?

Most all of them. I think a general discussion is better than rank speculation that is going on here about a specific boy loved by many many people. The loooong blue posts seem to be posted and reposted by insensitive ignorant people. This is a very important discussion to have -- but not by intertwining one boy's struggle with the offensive posturing found here.

I really don't see how you hope to learn anything if you don't wish to allow specific victims to be mentioned.
This thread, btw, is about two boys, not one. You seem inappropriately adament with your demands.

I'm sorry to keep jumping in here, but a fair number of posters don't seem to be getting the message. You are not going to be able to learn anything based on the specific victims described in this thread because nobody is going to share the information necessary to learn anything. This is not the appropriate medium for such sharing. If/when the victims' families are prepared to go public, you may have the opportunity to learn something then. In the meantime, you can only engage in voyeuristic speculation. That will teach you nothing of value.

[Anonymous]

Moderator is right. My two cents: the only advice with your kids is to be alert and pay attention. These kids may have parents that did this. We may never -and they may never- know the reason why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moderator is right. My two cents: the only advice with your kids is to be alert and pay attention. These kids may have parents that did this. We may never -and they may never- know the reason why.

Of course these young victims had loving and caring parents and families.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

I'm sorry to keep jumping in here, but a fair number of posters don't seem to be getting the message. You are not going to be able to learn anything based on the specific victims described in this thread because nobody is going to share the information necessary to learn anything. This is not the appropriate medium for such sharing. If/when the victims' families are prepared to go public, you may have the opportunity to learn something then. In the meantime, you can only engage in voyeuristic speculation. That will teach you nothing of value.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this voice of reason and fairness. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Maybe this thread should be frozen? It seems to wind here and there to places it does not need to go. Two young people died. Respect please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear parents of dcurbanmom.com,
I am a 17 year old who attends Yorktown High school. Some may claim that because of my age I am immature and therefore not capable
of realizing what is and what isn't appropriate in reaction to different circumstances. It's sad that despite this generalization (that is definitely sometimes
true), I am able to recognize that the things that some of you are posting are completely insensitive and ignorant, and should never be posted on social
media despite the great perk of being able to post anonymously.
The tragedy that has ensued at Langley High school should NOT be taken as an opportunity to rant about the one-sided opinions that you have about Langley. No offense, but no one really cares about the hatred you have for a school, one that you, yourself, never even attended! Really, what does your daughter's or son's personal story have to do with anything?
It's quite amusing to me, that while some of you are utilizing this horrific event as support for your hatred for Langley, your kids are using it as an opportunity to create an even stronger, resilient, high school community. Maybe you should learn from them.
Please, have respect. Do not make up rumors. Do not point fingers. Do not use this tragedy as evidence to support your many arguments.
Most of you, like myself, do not know these boys. You do not know what they stood for. You do not know what they looked like. You do not know the things that they battled on a daily basis. I would bet that some of you do not even know their first names.
Please stop making teenagers like myself embarrassed that there are adults in my community that do not know how to compose themselves online.
There are two families, dozens of friends, and hundreds of classmates that are mourning the loss of two young boys. Please, be sympathetic to that.

You are an extremely well- spoken teenager, and I agree with everything you say in this post.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who has suffered with depression or suicidal thoughts (or studied it) may help shed some light on your experiences and helpful solutions.

[Anonymous]

I have suffered from depression and the rest of the cocktail ingredients in the Borderline Personality Disorder realm: Suicidal thoughts, Self-destructive behavior, risky sexual behavior, reckless driving, drug and alcohol abuse, et.al.

I tried to share my thoughts and experiences with everyone but was reported and deleted for some reason, probably because I offended the misguided sensitivities of the "poor me alliance" .

Oh well, life goes on for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have suffered from depression and the rest of the cocktail ingredients in the Borderline Personality Disorder realm: Suicidal thoughts, Self-destructive behavior, risky sexual behavior, reckless driving, drug and alcohol abuse, et.al.

I tried to share my thoughts and experiences with everyone but was reported and deleted for some reason, probably because I offended the misguided sensitivities of the "poor me alliance" .

Oh well, life goes on for the rest of us.

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that and it's curious as to why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal only applauds the achievers. The parents only blames the teachers. The teachers only cater to the achievers. What's in it for the "AVERAGE" student????? Not much. When matriculating at JMU or CNU is viewed as a career turn toward flipping burgers, the heated pot can boil over.

I have a student at Langley and this quote is absolutely true. My child just told me she feels ashamed every day that she is not one of those students taking 5 AP's. She recently told a friend about a school she was looking at that is very good in the particular program she is interested in and her friend said "Oh you can do better than that." If you are not one of the few students that fit the very small mold, you spend four very unhappy years feeling terrible about yourself. Most of the teachers think they are teaching at college. They are teenagers! Enough of this pressure. When will we learn? Should it surprise us that they are self-medicating and that it only takes a bit of extra trouble whether at home, depression or otherwise to turn into tragedy?

Today in the Health section of The Washington Post: In a survey of 1,018 teenagers, 83% said that school was "somewhat or significant source of stress." Twenty-seven percent reported "extreme stress" during the school year, though that number fell to 13% percent during the summer.

It may be crucial for each high school to take their own surveys.