Flashback to Last School Year

I'm putting this up because it was a significant incident last school year.

Toward the end of last school year, a teacher in one of our elementary schools was killed in a car accident.  The school psychologists and social workers were mustered and sent over to the school the teacher taught at the day after this occurred before the students and teachers found out.  I was one of the first people in that morning and I was one of the first people sent over to the school.  I was also fortunate to have gone to a training on just such a situation the previous school year and that training served me well, personally.

The response to this incident went very well.  We made sure that all the staff were informed at the same time and then all the students were informed in their a specially convened home room session.  We had a lot of the district counseling staff present for both teachers and students.  We made sure that we had rooms available for distraught students and staff.

Several years prior to this, a similar incident happened where a staff member actually died on school grounds during the school day.  One teacher that was present in the school during the current situation was also at the previous incident.  She came to some of us and told us that the manner in which this situation was handled compared to the past situation was a hundred times better.  That it had been handled with care and sensitivity for both the staff and the students.

My part in this situation was a very small part.  I provided information that I had gathered from the training that I had attended.  Without sounding prideful, I think that information was accepted and acted upon.  But the people that did the best were the school staff that were immediately affected by the teacher's death.  They had a difficult task to do and they accepted it without reservation.

I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Macy who provided the training that I attended through the Traumatic Loss Coalition for Youth.  They are a great organization and if you have the opportunity to attend one of these trainings, particularly one provided by Dr. Macy, you should do so.