1. Personnel. The commissioner shall appoint, subject to the Civil Service Law, supervisors and consultants knowledgeable about substance use.

2. Technical assistance. The department, through its supervisors and consultants, shall offer technical assistance to public and approved private schools and cooperating community-based organizations to aid in the establishment and implementation of school-based substance use disorder programs and health education curricula.

3. Cooperation; coordination. The department shall carry out its planning activities related to alcohol and drug education and prevention.

4. Information collection and sharing. The Department of Education is authorized to gather information about substance use disorder prevention and intervention programs initiated by state or federal agencies whose efforts are directed toward private and public schools of the State, for the purpose of sharing that information with school administrative units.

The department shall, in cooperation with the Department of Education and the “local action councils” funded in Public Law 1987, chapter 349, Part A under the heading “Human Services, Department of,” develop a teenage suicide prevention strategy and a model suicide prevention program to be presented in the secondary schools of the State. Development of such a program must include preparation of relevant educational materials that must be distributed in the schools.