A Juul vape pen.

The Bowling Green Independent School District Board on Monday adopted a new suicide prevention policy expanding the ages to receive suicide prevention resources to grades 4-12 and adding a second session of suicide prevention in January.

“I think that’s just a realization that we just have a lot of kids in distress and we want to make sure everybody has the tools to help kids when they need help,” BGISD Superintendent Gary Fields said. “Students are provided with a slew of suicide prevention information. We do some surveys with them, allowing kids to let us know if they’re having a rough time.”

The new suicide prevention policy expands on what the district has already been practicing, which was a one-time prevention training in September across grades 6-12.

Along with the new suicide prevention policy, the board approved a new policy regarding discipline involving student use of “tobacco, alternative nicotine, or vapor products.”

The policy includes a three-step penalty plan for students with these products.

These steps are:

• After the first incident, a school based mental-health service provider, such as a guidance counselor, will provide the student along with their parents/guardian with “age-appropriate nicotine cessation information” that can include programs, as well as referrals for treatment;
• The second incident will again result in providing the above information as well as a “disciplinary action as determined by the board;”
• The third incident, along with any following violations of the policy, can result in an in-school or out-of-school suspension. During an in-school suspension, a school will “provide the opportunity for a student to complete an evidence-based, age appropriate nicotine education program.”

During the meeting, Fields said that this laying out of disciplinary actions from the Kentucky School Boards Association is “very odd.”

“For the first time I can remember, they’ve given us the disciplinary sequence which is a little concerning,” Fields said. “That normally is a local decision on how we handle those issues, especially depending on the age of the student.”

With the disciplinary action being the same for all grades, Fields said during the meeting that “it’s a little unfortunate that we’re kind of being pigeon holed to treat a fourth grader like an 18 year old.”

“We’ve been dealing with vaping for years now,” Fields said. “We learned that it’s a difference between a fourth grader with a vape and an eighth grader and a senior.”

In total, the district adopted 39 policies. BGISD Director of Communications Leslie McCoy said via email that “all policy updates were recommended by the Kentucky School Boards Association and are due to changes in law by the Kentucky General Assembly.”

During the meeting, the board also approved insurance for the district. Fields said insurance was a “low-light,” rather than a highlight for the district as BGISD has seen a 20-22% increase in its premiums for the upcoming school year.

Fields said the district planned for “slight increases” but BGISD did not “anticipate it (insurance premiums) was going to be that high.” The total cost of insurance for the upcoming year is $650,957.51, an almost $100,000 increase from the 2023 total of $563,656.88.