Vashon, the school district is beginning a three-year project to increase suicide prevention efforts in island schools.

“I want better support for grieving and compassion, but I also want better intervention for people contemplating suicide,” said Superintendent Michael Soltman, who announced the new project last week. He said he hopes the three-year effort will produce suicide-prevention programs the district is able to sustain, as well as a school environment where those who struggle get the help they need.

“We have to interrupt it. We have to get in the way of it,” Soltman said.

Beginning this winter, the Vashon Island School District will funnel about $50,000 a year into a variety of suicide prevention programs, including new classroom curriculum, training for teachers and parents and the formation of a crisis response team.

The effort will be coordinated by Yvonne Monique Aviva, who is well known on Vashon as a former parent educator at Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS). Aviva left VYFS last spring and moved to Seattle, where she works as a consultant in social and emotional education. She will now spend about two days a week commuting to Vashon to work for the district. The schools will pay $5,000 for her services through the end of January and then  around $25,000 to $30,000 a year should the district secure funding.

“She brings that great competence and a lot of experience in parent education, direct service to families and children and a real rock-solid experience in project management,” Soltman said. “I needed someone who could really lead in partnership with me.”

Soltman and a committee that includes Aviva and the principals and counselors from all three schools have met several times to determine what the new project