The Clintonville School Board meets Monday night and one of the items on the agenda that is awaiting action is a new policy that the administration will take towards handling memorials and commemoration of school facilities.
The issue was raised when the school board discussed the research that advises against holding commemoration for students have committed suicide.
“We had a lot of compiled data brought before us,” said one board member. “About the only thing that we can find that was broad, every single one of them said plaques are not a good idea.”
The board clarifies that it’s any permanent memorial that may remind students of those who were lost by suicide. This topic comes as an issue from this past summer, when Clintonville high school student Austin Arnold passed away from suicide, but the board says it’s not just suicides, it’s all deaths.
“It really didn’t matter the circumstances, whether it was car accident, or a suicide, or cancer, or whatever. It’s still a reminder of something tragic that happened. For many students it’s positive, but for some it’s a negative,” explained the board.
That research states that the negative impact it would have on students outweighs the positives. Students that have passed had previously had memorial plaques on the wall, and one student who came forward at the last board meeting couldn’t understand why Austin’s was to be taken down.
“The rest of the plaques have been up there since 1994 and because Austin dies of suicide, now it’s becoming a bigger issue,” she said. “I think some students feel it’s closure to have his plaque up there as well.”
The students had organized a petition in order to keep the memorials, and most didn’t even know that’s what the plaques were for.
The board says they’re not singling out Austin’s case. They’re trying to set forth a policy that covers all student deaths.
“We have to step back. We as a school board are making a decision, not about a single person’s plaque, or any single circumstance. We are trying to set a policy for all students and all former students what we feel that should be, and it’s an incredibly difficult thing to do.”
The matter is expected to be resolved at tonight’s school board meeting at the Clintonville Middle School at 6:30.
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