FRISCO, Texas — It is one thing for teachers and administrators to help the children who walk the campus halls, but to help a child you do not know in a state far from yours would seem entirely something else.
It was the quick response from three administrators at Ashley Elementary School in the Frisco ISD that kept a student from Virginia from committing suicide that day.
"We sat there and fought for that girl's life that day," said Laurie Ortel, a counselor.
It started with a message the administrators saw on the StopIt app in December. It's an anonymous reporting app for bullying and other issues that come up.
But this was from a child they didn't know and it didn't matter.
"We quickly realized this was a serious immediate need," Principal Kim Frankson said.
The child revealed to them that she was being bullied at the school she was attending and did not want to return.
"In the message that she sent she said she was going to kill herself," Assistant Principal Jess Johnson said.
It was an exchange lasting 50 heart-pounding minutes between administrators in Frisco and a child living in Waynesboro, Va. During that exchange, the child admitted she had taken pills.
"We knew that if that conversation stopped...we had no way of reaching her," Ortel said.
But the steady stream of positive messages from the administrators revealed enough and bought them enough time get a girl out of state some help. Finally, they reached the local police and police reached her.
"We knew that glitch was a God-send," said Ortel.
It was unclear how a desperate plea from Virginia was answered on that day in Frisco. The app-maker for StopIt is trying to figure that out. WFAA was told that the school in Virginia where this child is from also utilizes the app.
"I am comforted to know that our student recognized the value of the StopIt App and reached out to our school leaders," Dr. Ryan Barber, Director of Student Services in Waynesboro, Va., said in a statement. "Since our school division had begun our Winter Break, the student did not receive an immediate response. Thankfully, she reached out to Frisco Independent School District, another school district using the StopIt App. The administrators in Frisco were able to connect with the student even several states away and provide her guidance and support. The administrators in Frisco also contacted almost every administrator in Waynesboro City Schools to ensure we were aware of the emergency situation. Without the quick action of the administrators in Frisco, our student would not received the immediate mental health evaluation and treatment she required. I am certain the outcome would have been different if it hadn't been for the StopIt App and the administrators in Frisco. Our school division remains tremendously thankful for everyone who intervened on behalf of our student in crisis."
And it is rare we don't report the other side of the story, and privacy issues prevent that. But sometimes it is enough to know that a life was saved that day – a life these administrators will never know and always wonder.
"No matter what is going on in your life," Frankson said. "You are not alone."