Several days after the latest of three student suicides occurred at an Omaha high school this month, there were five attempts and one suicide among students at David Prouty High School in the small, central Massachusetts community of Spencer.
At the same time, word began to spread that in the town of Golden, Colo., an affluent suburb of Denver, seven junior- and senior-high-school students had taken their own lives in the past five months and suicide threats were continuing.
In Spencer, 16-year-old Francis V. McNamara, a junior, died on Feb. 11 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police.
The five suicide attempts by other Prouty students reportedly took place the day before and the day after Mr. McNamara killed himself, according to Philip D. Devaux, superintendent of schools.
“It is certainly sobering,” said Mr. Devaux, “for there are few common links among the reported incidents, and no apparent cause.”
District officials have initiated a series of activities in an attempt to prevent further suicides and to help the school community deal with its grief, the superintendent said.
Faculty from the district’s two junior high schools and from the senior high school met late on the day of the McNamara youth’s suicide with counselors from a private mental-health-counseling firm that the district retains on an ongoing basis, according to a school spokesman.
During the spring recess, which began three days later, scores of students gathered in the school gymnasium for meetings and discussions, according to a school official.
The most recent suicide at Golden High School took place late last month. The Denver metropolitan area, in which Golden is located, leads the nation in its rate of teen suicides.
The district is offering a network of activities to help students and staff, said Betsey Jay, a school spokesman. Ms. Jay said she learned about the latest death as she was typing an announcement about a suicide-prevention workshop for school counselors.
The workshop is one of many activities the school district and the community have undertaken in an attempt to understand and deal with the cluster suicides. Students at the high school spent a day in workshops on suicide and self-destructive behavior last month, and all 4,000 teachers and counselors in the district have been trained in crisis intervention.
“Churches and parents want to help the schools, and we need their help. It is not a school problem it is a community problem,” said Dexter Meyer, spokesman for the Jefferson County Education Association, which organized a group of community and education leaders to look at resources and exchange information.
“You cannot blame anyone; it’s not the school’s fault,” he added. “There is no known cause.”
