‘Worse scenario ever’: Tornillo High announces false death as part of suicide prevention awareness

During National Suicide Prevention Week, students at Tornillo High School were led to believe that one of their teachers had committed suicide only to find out later that it was all fake. The announcement was one of many activities the school took part in to bring awareness to suicide prevention.

However, some parents are demanding an apology from the Tornillo Independent School District after students were left in tears over the exercise that some call unprofessional.

For Tornillo senior Gerardo Guerra, the exercise left him sad and confused.

“Some students were mad about it, and I was kind of mad and kind of confused also,” said Guerra.

“So the activity was, every 2 to 3 minutes they would announce that such person is no longer with us. And that person would be dressed in black. They would still attend classes but everybody kind of knew, well they’re not really here,” explained Rodrigo Portillo, Assistant Superintendent for Tornillo ISD.

Portillo added that last week’s exercise was not meant to upset the students. Instead, it was meant to model the emotions of losing a loved one through suicide.

“Part of our responsibility as educators is to provide suicide awareness, and embed the social and emotional learning to it,” said Portillo.

An email was sent out to teachers ahead of last week’s exercise and some students were informed the morning before the announcement, but those who were not informed were left in tears.

“Some students began crying so it was kind of confusing and kind of made them angry before they discovered it was just a project,” said Guerra.

Portillo said that they did not mean to offend any of the student and assures students that next year the district will take other measures if they plan on repeating the exercise again.

“Maybe letting the parents know what’s going on maybe letting the students know ahead of time,” said Portillo.

If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, the Lifeline network is available 24/7 across the United States. Click here for more information.