Perry parents meet to help halt suicides

PERRY TWP. — Jessica Gaddis is a mother of a first-grader at Genoa Elementary School who’s concerned for all kids and wants them to be safe and happy.

Like many township parents, Gaddis wants teenage suicides to cease in her community and hopes students who need or seek help can get it. She’s advocating for the Legacy Project of Stark County to be invited into Perry Local Schools to meet with troubled teens and younger students who might be seeking a friend.

“We need mentors for our kids,” Gaddis said prior to a public meeting Thursday evening aimed at finding ways to help young people. “They (Legacy) are people who have a passion to be friends with kids.”

According to its website, www.thelegacyprojectofstark.org, Legacy works to build one-on-one and small-group mentoring relationships with middle school students who are facing personal, academic and social challenges. The group is involved with students in Massillon and other county schools.

Since the start of the school year, Perry Local Schools has suffered the loss of five high school students and one recent graduate to suicide. The most recent student suicide was announced Jan. 12 by the school district.

The deaths this school year include a 2017 high school graduate, one middle school pupil and four high school students.

Gaddis and members of Legacy were among a few-dozen folks who met for about an hour at the Stark County Library District’s Perry-Sippo branch at Exploration Gateway. Overall, about 50 people attended the gathering — hosted by I Care About Perry Students, or ICAPS — which was the third meeting since the group originated late last year.

The ICAPS effort is a group of citizens who want to find ways to help stop the suicides of Perry High School students. Thursday’s meeting was led by Beth Philley, a Perry parent, who founded the group and started its Facebook page.

“It’s not just here, and not just us,” Philley said, referring to other reported teen suicides in Jackson Township, Canton Township, Coventry Township and New Philadelphia.

The focus of the meeting was to recruit participants to serve in ICAPS subgroups, which aim to build relationships with students, the school board, local police, churches, parents and athletic coaches.

Some in attendance at the meeting, which mainly included parents and family members of Perry students, mentioned a Bible study, family nights, police mentoring and parents occasionally attending school as ideas to encourage communication and friendships.

The next ICAPS meeting was not immediately announced.

Steven Grazier is a reporter at The Independent in Massillon.

CREDIT: STEVEN M GRAZIER