13 Reasons Why Guidance

May 18, 2018

Dear Families/Guardians,

Last spring, Netflix released a new series titled, 13 Reasons Why, which concerned many parents, educators, and mental health professionals because of its graphic portrayal of content around depression, suicide, bullying, sexual assault, and substance use that was being marketed toward adolescents. This letter is intended to inform you that the second season of this controversial series was released today.

We would like to share some information with you in order to guide our young students in healthy ways. This series has been rated TV-MA and 16+ by Common Sense Media. If you are going to watch the show with your child, we recommend having a conversation with them about these difficult topics and the glamorization of these topics in the media. Netflix has created a discussion guide for parents from season one and a short video featuring the actors out of character talking about the seriousness of these topics and providing education around this subject matter.

In addition, Netflix offers parental controls for specific movies and series through use of a PIN number. Therefore, you are able to assign a unique code for 13 Reasons Why so your child cannot access any episodes of the series without the code. We can try to protect our children by having age-appropriate conversations with them about these difficult topics vital to their healthy growth and development.

Below is a list of resources that may be helpful in guiding these conversations.

Resources

Please reach out with any questions. We are here to support you and your children any way we can.

Sincerely,
Dr. Kendra V. Johnson
Superintendent

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