SAMPLE OPENING PAGES
of
Jim
Burgett's
"How to Handle the Death of a Student, Faculty, or
Staff Member"
It can happen to any administrator—and it will stick in your
mind forever, especially the first time, like when President Kennedy was shot
or when the planes hit the
It has happened to me several times. Every
time is different and every set of circumstances varies. Yet there are specific
guidelines, certain things to remember, a reliable
procedure that guides what an administrator does and does not do. To prepare
this report I researched dozens of documents and asked many administrators and
experts in the field for suggestions so I could devise the guidelines that
follow about how to handle the death of a student, staff member, faculty, or
even someone related to the operation of the school.
Let me start with a true incident that
demonstrates many of the points made later.
Case Study
I was in my car headed for an early morning
meeting about 90 miles south of my school district. I had left the house at 5
a.m. I was going to pick up another administrator at his house en route about
an hour later. The call to my home came at 5:15. Since this was before cell
phones were popular, my wife called the home of the other administrator with a
message for me to call a certain number immediately. When I pulled up to his
house, he came outside without a coat. Odd since it was cold and light rain was
just beginning to fall—a
few degrees lower and it would be snow.
“Come
on in,”
he said. “You have to make a call.”
When he handed me the note I immediately
recognized the number of the county sheriff. Answering my call, the dispatcher
asked me to hold for a minute. She patched me directly to the sheriff’s
home.
“Jim, I have bad news. Two of your students
were killed this morning about two o’clock. We just notified the parents. I’m sure
very few kids will know anything about it when they get to school.”
He gave me the names and a few sketchy
details. He said that he would have a more detailed report later in the day or
tomorrow morning, and he would call me. (A godsend advantage
of having a good working relationship with the sheriff.)
I thanked him and immediately started, in my
head, going over options from our crisis plans. Every student death, every
death of a staff member, every death of a parent is different. Each situation
is unique. But there are some basics that help, things you can do ahead of
time, ways to be ready. It’s
almost as if that when the situation happens you bring up on your mental radar
screen a pre-selected set of options to sort through rather than just following
a set road map, or even worse, shooting from the hip.
One thing immediately came to mind. Both
boys were very popular high school football players, and most kids knew them. I
also knew there were brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends in the junior
high and grade school. And that if I hurried I could be back by 7 a.m. and
could get things ready before the first busload of kids arrived. The principal
was a rookie so I needed to be there. This was not the time to test his
abilities.
My friend wished me well as I jumped into my
car to race back to the office, hoping the rain would stay rain and the traffic
would stay light. I made it in fifty minutes. I had time to think through my
options and even jot down a note or two.
When I walked into the building the first
person I saw was the custodian. I asked him to help me with an emergency. He
called the building secretaries and asked them to come in ASAP. I did an
all-call on the intercom asking for every available teacher to come to my
office. I had a list of things they could help me do. One I asked to call the
principals and request them to get to my office as quickly as they could. I asked
another to make and post signs calling for a teachers’ meeting at 7:45. Another called the head counselor
and asked him to get all counselors there immediately. The fourth called the
local priest and the head of the local ministerial alliance, requesting them to
be at our staffing at 7:45. I also told those in the office to say only that we
had a student death and that details were not available at the moment. Others
made sure that all of the doors to the building were locked except the main
entrance, with signs taped to each door directing people to the front doors.
I put a call in to the sheriff to find out
whether his office or a funeral director was handling the details. I tried to
find out anything I could for the information release. I asked my secretary to
call all the Board members as well, but only when school started, so they wouldn’t
call others before the information was shared at school.
I dictated the information that I would read
to the school to my secretary so it was printed and grammatically correct.
After our brief faculty meeting, I had the
teachers who were not assigned to a first hour class posted at the front doors
to make certain that all students who arrived then went directly to their
homerooms. We also had a room available nearby for any student who was visually
upset.
My staff called neighboring schools for
additional guidance help.
One of the secretaries secured a list of
substitutes for the day and we assigned teachers with their first hour free to
go to the rooms with substitutes. We couldn’t expect our subs to give
information to kids about grief counseling.
I asked the principal, assistant principal, and other administrators to go to the main
entrance to help process the kids. I remained in the office so I could operate
a command headquarters. From there I would read the prepared announcement, and
in the classrooms the teachers would start and supervise the process of help.
Bus drivers, cooks, and all other
non-certified staff members were asked to come to a briefing that started 15
minutes after the first hour began.
These are the first 2 1/2pages of the report.
For more, see a summary of
its contents plus more information about other reports.
Want to look at the Introduction
or Chapter
1 of
What Every Superintendent and Principal Needs to Know?
Or read
sample pages of other reports...
Then if you want to order the book or a
report...
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