Resources Available Following Death of Mustang Student

The Mustang School District is reaching out to state departments and lawmakers after tragedies at the high school. Resources are now being offered to help students through this difficult time.

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services says schools should not host or hold memorials following the death of a student, but the district should allow students a space to mourn. “Any time we lose a student or a young person it's a tragedy,” said Meg Cannon, a suicide prevention program manager for ODMHSAS. “It's a tragedy because that's a life that's been cut short.” 

Like the high school student from Mustang High School. The district confirmed one student was hurt and another died last week, in what was described in a letter to parents as “twin tragedies.” “We absolutely want students to be able to grieve and to express themselves and talk things out,” Cannon said.

Cannon says after a death, a crisis team will help by going into a school and setting up comfort care rooms where students can talk with a trained professional. She said schools can also create temporary memorials. “If it's a school that has lockers, they can give students sticky notes, and a student can write their memories on that locker and be monitored,” Cannon said. “Allow students to do that for two or three days but don't make it anything permanent and make it a clean slate every day.”

She says those sticky notes can be given to the student’s family. They can also be reviewed by the school to see if any other students are struggling. In Superintendent Charles Bradley’s letter to parents, he also stated the district is looking into laws to strengthen cyberbullying laws.

“We learned this week that the current law, in certain instances, may not afford legal consequences for certain online bullying (despite receiving severe consequences from a school),” Bradley stated in the letter. “This must be fixed, and we will work to champion this cause. Bullying is a complex issue made more enigmatic by the popularity of social media. Our top priority is to ensure a safe learning environment for our students and staff.”

Aubrey Bingham is a sophomore at Mustang High and says bullying is a problem. “Bullying is never a solution,” Bingham said. “The thing I think has been overlooked, probably, has been social media. Everybody likes to spread things very quickly and they don't think it could affect the person they're spreading things about.”

Cannon says stressors like this can lead to suicide and she says they are seeing a growing trend. “Teenage students, we see an increase in suicides especially in March, April, and May,” she said.

The trend is especially true among 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds. Cannon said the state passed a law requiring all school employees in public schools to be trained in suicide prevention. “Trained on what to do if someone is struggling, how to spot a student struggling, and what to do next to get that child help,” Cannon said.

Cannon said another resource is 988, Oklahoma’s Mental Health Lifeline. Professionals are available 24/7 for anyone who needs help or someone who knows someone in distress. The number is also included on the back of all Oklahoma student ID's.

While the Mustang School District has said it's working against cyberbullying and has shared suicide prevention resources, it has not said how the student died last week. The district says it has also reached out to federal officials to investigate social media pages and says it has identified two people responsible.

For more on suicide prevention, click here: Frequently Asked Questions (oklahoma.gov)