The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will conduct an epidemiology study to determine the cause of a disturbing rash of teen suicides in Palo Alto, California.
Four current or former students of the Palo Alto Unified School District killed themselves between October 2014 and March. A similar cluster occurred between 2008 to 2009 when there were five teen suicides in the city.
Local officials are currently working with suicide prevention collaborative Project Safety Net and other community stakeholders to develop objectives for the study. Superintendent Glenn “Max” McGee said the CDC team could arrive as late as January.
The troubling revelations gained national attention this month after an exposé in the December 2015 issue of The Atlantic.
Read more about the CDC’s announcement here.