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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2607 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 672 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Edward R. Philips |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to suicide prevention in schools. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Edward R. Philips8th Norfolk1/16/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2607 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 672 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Philips of Sharon, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 672) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Edward R. Philips that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education be authorized to |
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| 20 | 20 | | offer two hours of evidence based in-service suicide awareness and prevention training once |
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| 21 | 21 | | every other year to certain employees. Education. |
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| 22 | 22 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 555 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 24 | 24 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 28 | 28 | | _______________ |
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| 29 | 29 | | An Act relative to suicide prevention in schools. |
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| 30 | 30 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 31 | 31 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 32 | 32 | | 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following |
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| 33 | 33 | | 2section: |
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| 34 | 34 | | 3 Section 98. (a) The department of elementary and secondary education shall adopt rules |
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| 35 | 35 | | 4to require in school health care providers and any holder of, or applicant for, an educator’s |
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| 36 | 36 | | 5license in the commonwealth to receive at least 2 hours of evidence based in-service suicide |
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| 37 | 37 | | 6awareness and prevention training once every other year. This training shall be provided within |
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| 38 | 38 | | 7the framework of existing in-service training programs offered by the department or as part of |
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| 39 | 39 | | 8required professional development activities. 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 9 (1) Staff members subject to the training under paragraph (a) initially hired during a |
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| 41 | 41 | | 10school year in which the training is not required, shall be provided with suicide prevention and |
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| 42 | 42 | | 11identification materials for review by the local district within thirty days of being hired. |
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| 43 | 43 | | 12 (b) The department shall, in consultation with the department of public health, the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 13department of mental health, and suicide prevention experts, develop a list of approved training |
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| 45 | 45 | | 14materials to fulfill the requirements of this section. The approved training materials must: |
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| 46 | 46 | | 15 (1) be evidence-based; and |
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| 47 | 47 | | 16 (2) demonstrated to be an effective or promising program. |
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| 48 | 48 | | 17 (c) On or before January 1, 2027, a school of a school district or county office of |
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| 49 | 49 | | 18education and a charter school shall be required to have at least one mental health professional, |
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| 50 | 50 | | 19as defined, for every 400 pupils generally accessible to pupils on campus during school hours. |
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