Weeks after a student and staff member were stabbed and four students arrested at Watsonville High, the school district that serves them is considering laying off every mental health clinician and most of its school counselors.

If you want a snapshot of how we are failing young people, especially boys, you can start there.

To balance its budget, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District is considering eliminating the equivalent of 15 full-time counselors, all 13 mental health clinicians and dozens of intervention staff at its schools — at a time when youth suicide is one of the leading causes of death for people ages 10 to 24.

Men and boys make up nearly 80% of suicides in the United States. For LGBTQ youth, the picture is even more alarming. A national survey found nearly 39% seriously

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