{"id":117860,"date":"2025-08-29T06:52:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T06:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/117860\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T06:52:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T06:52:33","slug":"roanoke-county-families-invited-to-meetings-about-mental-health-and-mobile-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/117860\/","title":{"rendered":"Roanoke County families invited to meetings about mental health and mobile devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ\/RCPS Release) – Roanoke County Public Schools<\/a> is encouraging parents to attend four community meetings, concerning student safety and mental health issues.<\/p>\n

Three meetings, in cooperation with the Partnership for Community Wellness<\/a>, will be held concerning what the school division says are the \u201cdangers of cellphone use among elementary, middle and high school students.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a news release, the school district said, \u201cToday\u2019s digital world is full of threats including dangerous apps disguised as harmless games, online predators, social media addiction, and relentless cyberbullying. Parents will learn exactly what to look for \u2014 and how they can fight back with powerful tools and expert-backed strategies to reclaim control over their child\u2019s digital life and guard their mental and emotional health in a tech-driven world.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcessive device use is rewiring young brains, disrupting sleep, fueling anxiety, and lowering academic success. The damage is happening now \u2014 and it\u2019s deeper than most parents realize.”<\/p>\n

The 6 p.m. meetings are set for: <\/p>\n

September 17 at William Byrd High SchoolOctober 13 at Northside High SchoolNovember 18 at Cave Spring High School<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is having a disastrous impact on our students, from cyberbullying to predators and more\u201d said Dr. Ken Nicely, superintendent of Roanoke County Public Schools. \u201cWe strongly recommend parents wait until at least eighth grade, or later, before allowing their children to have a smartphone and access to social media. There are many online dangers, and we want to make sure our students are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

September 22 at 6 p.m., parents also are encouraged to attend a community meeting at Northside High School to talk about suicide prevention, saying:<\/p>\n

Parents and caregivers play a powerful role in protecting young lives and will learn more about how to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health struggles in children. We will review the risk factors that may increase a child\u2019s vulnerability, steps parents can take to strengthen their child\u2019s mental and emotional well-being, and support services available through their child\u2019s school and local community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to be in the midst of a mental health crisis,\u201d said Dr. Shawn Hughes, director of school counseling for Roanoke County Public Schools. \u201cStudents continue to struggle with mental health concerns. The sooner that a parent or caregiver can recognize that a student is dealing with a mental health concern, the sooner that student can receive support through the many resources schools and the community have available.<\/p>\n

The meetings come in the wake of the death by suicide<\/a> of 10-year-old Roanoke County student Autumn Bushman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we partner together to take steps, even small steps, these can have a big impact on our children\u2019s well-being and mental health,\u201d said Dr. Nicely. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 WDBJ. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ\/RCPS Release) – Roanoke County Public Schools is encouraging parents to attend four community meetings,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[76164,97,259,260,76163,76162,2785,5642,5148],"class_list":{"0":"post-117860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-autumn-bushman","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-mentalhealth","12":"tag-mobile-devices","13":"tag-roanoke-county-public-schools","14":"tag-safety","15":"tag-suicide","16":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}