ALPENA — School districts would be required to place the phone number to a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline on the back of middle school and high school student IDs under pending legislation.

A bill introduced in the Legislature in February called the “Save our Students Act” would require school districts that provide student IDs to have the phone number for a local, state, or national suicide prevention hotline printed on it. The bill would also encourage districts to display the information on the school’s website home page, in any counseling staff’s office, and in the principal or administrator’s office.

Northeast Michigan school officials said they’d gladly provide that information to students, because the more help they can provide kids, the better.

“You think about a time like right now, when they don’t have access to counselors in the building, or that one adult in the building that they have a connection with,” said Tom Berriman, Alpena High School principal. “They need to have immediate access to something or somebody they can talk to.”

Berriman said Alpena Public Schools might not even wait for the law to provide the hotline number on student IDs.

The bill is awaiting a vote in the state House Education Committee.

Though they are not the most likely to kill themselves, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Michiganders 10 to 24 years old, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

School districts already offer students mental health services.

APS, for example, partners with Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency and Alcona Health Center for behavioral health services. If students have permission from their guardian, they can meet with therapists on campus. The program is temporarily located at the Alcona Health Center while schools are closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The first step is finding that system of support to help get through that immediate crisis, and we have to educate our kids of where they can go, and we have to educate our parents and provide them with support so they can have it,” Berriman said. “A lot of times, the parents are just as lost as the kids, because they know their kids are in crisis and they know their kid is struggling, but they don’t have an awareness of options.”

Berriman said APS wants to better-identify students who are not visibly at risk and get them help.

“We’ve clearly identified our kids who are at risk for varying environmental reasons, but we see in high-end kids that have high (grade-point averages) and are very low-risk have an increase in suicidal ideation,” he said. “This is the group that we have to figure out ways to communicate with, because that’s where we’re seeing the highest increase.”

A Rogers City Area Schools student committed suicide last year. Shortly after, several parents attended a school board meeting to demand changes in the district.

As a member of the Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle Educational Service District, Rogers City has access to Thunder Bay Community Health Service to provide behavioral health services to students.

Still, Marilyn Dimick, guidance counselor with Rogers City schools, said any information at the fingertips of students is very beneficial. She said a crisis prevention number that encompasses all mental health needs would be ideal for a student ID.

“Our lives are just filled with all kinds of different obstacles, and workers in the mental health field aren’t always available,” Dimick said. “To have a number right there on the back of a student ID when someone can answer immediately is priceless.”

Lori Vought, an APS counselor, said a number of APS students deal with mental health issues and need to know there are resources available for them.

“I think anytime you can get information into the hands of kids as a preventative measure, even if it helps just a few people, you never know how many people it could help,” Vought said.

School districts like APS and Rogers City provide some mental health training for teachers. However, counselors are the main resource when behavioral health support is needed.

With easy access to information through social media, it’s hard to tell what might trigger someone to have feelings of despair, Nicholas Hein, Rogers City superintendent, said. A crisis hotline number on the back of an ID could give students that outlet they need.

“Any person knows when there’s something dwelling on your mind, and you haven’t necessarily been taught coping mechanisms, it can lead you down a path we don’t want anyone to go on,” Hein said.