LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools is putting bullying and suicide prevention in the spotlight at a large event on Thursday.
The district will host a day-long summit at the Crowne Plaza, where hundreds of educators will hear from national experts.
Parents like Bobbi Jo Kingery are pleased the district is taking the extra step. As a PTA mom, she often visits her 12-year-old daughter's school.
"When you go and see the activities at school, you can physically see the bullying on some of these kids," said Kingery, who has taken classes to learn more about bullying and ways to stop child suicide.
"I get chills about any child taking their own life," she said. "It's sad because it's all-too-often anymore."
According to the CDC, suicide among young people increased by 70 percent nationwide over the last decade. It hit the JCPS community hard this year, when 5th grader Seven Bridges took his own life.
"I think it's well documented; we had some heartache in our district. We were all devastated about what happened earlier this year, and we knew we had to do something," said JCPS spokeswoman Renee Murphy.
On Thursday, JCPS will host its first summit on bullying and suicide prevention.
"This is a really big deal for us, because we know that we have to take action," said Murphy. "We know something needs to be done."
An entire day will be dedicated to speakers, national experts, and more training.
"Kids spend a lot of time with us, and we want kids to know we are here for them, we are here to support them, and we want to do what's best for them," said Murphy.
Educators from every JCPS school will be here, along with others from across the state.
"They can take best practices back to their schools, back to their classrooms, back to their districts," said Murphy. "We can all work together to inform our students, our parents, and our staff."
It inspires hope from parents that it might help the next student in need.
"Any training they can have, it will make JCPS stronger," Kingery said.
The summit will be held from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
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