Outline of the state of Pennsylvania
State
Pennsylvania
Required

Category
Professional Development for Suicide Prevention

Category
Professional Development for Suicide Prevention

State law requires districts to provide professional development for school personnel on youth suicide prevention.

Pennsylvania Unconsolidated Statutes 1949 Act 13. Section 1309-B. School safety and security coordinator

(c) Specific duties. — The school safety and security coordinator shall: (2) Coordinate training and resources for students and school entity staff in matters relating to situational awareness, trauma-informed approaches, behavioral health awareness, suicide and bullying awareness, substance abuse awareness and emergency procedures and training drills, including fire, natural disaster, active shooter, hostage situation and bomb threat.

Policy Type
Statute

Pennsylvania Unconsolidated Statutes 1949 Act 13. Section 1310-B. School safety and security training

School entities shall provide their employees with mandatory training on school safety and security subject to the following based on the needs of the school entity: (1) Training shall address any combination of one or more of the following, based on the needs of the school entity: ... (iv) Suicide and bullying awareness.

Policy Type
Statute

Pennsylvania Unconsolidated Statutes 2014 Act 71 Section 1526 Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention

(a) Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, each school entity shall:

  • (1) Adopt an age-appropriate youth suicide awareness and prevention policy consistent with subsection (c), inform each school entity employe and the parent or legal guardian of each student enrolled in the school entity of such policy and post such policy on the school entity’s publicly accessible Internet website. The policy adopted by a school entity under this paragraph may be based upon the model policy developed by the department under subsection (b)(1).
  • (2) Include in the professional development plan submitted by the school entity to the secretary for approval pursuant to section 1205.1 four (4) hours of training in youth suicide awareness and prevention every five (5) years for professional educators in school buildings serving students in grades six through twelve. Training under this paragraph may be used to satisfy a professional educator’s continuing professional education requirement under section 1205.2. A school entity may use the materials made available by the department under subsection (b)(2) to conduct such training.
Policy Type
Statute

​Model Suicide Awareness and Prevention Administrative Regulation

This page outlines the administrative regulation component of the suicide awareness and prevention policy. It includes more explicit detail about the training staff should receive.

Policy Type
Non-codified