This paper outlines educators' responsibilities when a student speaks of suicide. It focuses on suicide in Illinois and reports on a survey that asked principals about suicide behavior in their schools. The results were divided into three categories: districts with fewer than 1,000 students, districts with 1,000 to 2,500 students, and districts with enrollment over 2,500. The report examines suicide attempts, demographics, and risk factors. It describes the training of staff as well as schools' policies and practices to deal with student suicide, detailing lawsuits over a 5-year period. The survey results show that more than 90 percent of small districts have not experienced student suicide. Although schools with 500 or fewer students accounted for 18 percent of the total self-inflicted deaths among Illinois young people, evidence suggests that smaller schools have not yet recognized and/or addressed the growing problem of suicide among the young. The paper analyzes the applicability of case law on student suicide, discussing some of the principles that have arisen in litigation, including state courts' tendency to provide broad-based legal protection for schools. Overall, the law does not require educators without specific training and experience to discover or diagnose psychiatric, psychological, or emotional conditions that may lead to a student harming him- or herself. (RJM)