Addressing Grief: Tips for Administrators and Teachers

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• Assign staff member to follow deceased student schedule to monitor peer reactions and answer questions (remember to remove students name from School Information System - BUT if in HS, keep track of courses completed)

• Newberry (NEA HIN) agrees that the school should collectively decide on a date to return to routine. But until then, allow students the time for grieving. Kids who are struggling and don’t come to classes shouldn’t be counted as truant; if they don’t turn in their assignments, they should be given an extension. “But after you provide an environment to grieve and mourn for a period of time, it’s important to return to normalcy as soon as possible,” says Newberry. “Returning to a regular routine is essential to healing.” ~Lessons on Loss Article (add resiliency and mindset information here).

• All too often, adults are negatively influenced by the cause of death, particularly if the death was suicide or alcohol/drug-related. It is extremely unhealthy for teens to be denied adequate outlets for their grief based on how or why the person died. The bottom line is: someone special to them has died – regardless of the circumstances of the death. Schools who disallow memorialization because it is a suicide for example, are creating an environment of frustration and hostility for the surviving friends. These survivors are left to feel as if they are being punished for their friend’s decision. Furthermore, it is, in effect, denying the life of that child who died! One of the most important things we can teach our children is how to honor life.