PALO ALTO (KRON) — Affected by student suicides at his former high school, a teacher started a grassroots initiative that he believes will help stop Palo Alto teenagers from taking their own lives.
But surprisingly, he said he feels the school district is giving him pushback.
“I don’t understand it,” former Gunn High School teacher Marc Vincenti said.
Within the last seven years, 10 Palo Alto students committed suicide. The CDC calls it an epidemic in Santa Clara County. With high expectations to succeed, students find themselves under pressure, Vincenti said.
Vincenti says overcrowded classes, excessive homework, overenrollment in AP classes, and a host of other issues are the reasons behind the depression.
“The other kids are whispering about those are the kids from the suicide school,” he said. “It’s there. It’s painful for everybody.”
Students said there’s constant stress that they deal with.
“We might have a new schedule next year, and we had a lot of turnover schedules this year, so…it’s kind of hard and stressing me out,” student Daniella Plata said.
Vincenti started a campaign to make changes but said the school district is ignoring his plea and plans to continue pushing forward.
“Til we’re just a chorus of voices that is so loud that we cannot be denied,” Vincenti said.
A school district rep said mental health and student well-being are a top priority.
“There has been many ideas and many suggestions, and the school district has looked at best practices, at data,” Jorge Quintana said. “It’s an ongoing effort.”
Gunn High has implemented a policy to limit the amount of homework, but these juniors don’t feel much relief
“Sometimes when they give a small amount of homework, they make it worth a lot of points,” Plata said.
The CDC conducted a survey at this school to see how they can put a stop to these suicides. Those results are expected by this summer.
One thing that’s new at all the high schools in this city is there are mental health professionals assigned to each one.