Schools cope with tragic losses
Three students in Durham Region died within a span of four days
What should a teacher say to a student whose classmate has died suddenly? How can school staff tell whether a student is coping well with a tragedy, or needs more help? What is the best way to lead a classroom discussion about a traumatic event?
Those were some of the questions Durham’s two school boards grappled with last week, as both were faced with high-profile tragedies, just days apart.
On the morning of Jan. 8, four people died in a house fire in Oshawa including Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB) students Jackson Bonchek, 4, and Madeline Bonchek, 9.
On Jan. 11, Durham District School Board (DDSB) student Neveithan Baskaran, 17, was killed in a stabbing outside a plaza in north Oshawa.
The tragedies left staff, students and parents from the St. Christopher Catholic School and Maxwell Heights Secondary School communities reeling.
The Durham District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board have teams at both the board and school levels that jump into action when a traumatic event occurs.
“I think the first thing we want to make sure is that the staff, the students, the parents are well-informed and remain as calm as possible,” says Dr. Carla Baetz, chief psychologist for the DCDSB.
The Catholic board has a crisis response handbook — an internal document not publicly available — to guide its staff, while the DDSB has drafted a new Traumatic Response Policy and Procedure. DDSB superintendent Richard Kennelly says the new document was prompted by a February 2016 incident that saw a 15-year-old girl armed with two knives slash and stab students in the hallway at Dunbarton High School in Pickering.
It includes everything from a checklist for school administrators to follow during a traumatic event, to sample prompts for teachers leading difficult classroom discussions.
The day after the Jan. 11 stabbing, Kennelly says the principal at Maxwell Heights Secondary School started by acknowledging the loss and letting students know that teachers would be providing information — he says having teachers share the information directly, as opposed to reading it over the PA system, was important.
Teachers were provided with a scripted note that included confirmed facts about the stabbing.
The board’s guideline on how to lead a classroom discussion after a traumatic event, suggests gathering students in a circle, asking them to put phones away and giving those who feel that a class discussion will be too upsetting the chance to leave and go to a separate location to speak one-on-one or in a smaller group.
Before sharing information about a traumatic event, teachers are encouraged to tell students that a range of reactions are normal.
“It is normal to feel very upset, confused or even angry about what has happened,” reads a sample prompt for teachers. “Some people here might not even know how to feel about it.”
Students are encouraged to ask questions and share their feelings, but teachers are told to redirect them away from any unverified information or rumours.
At Maxwell Heights, students were given the opportunity to speak oneon-one or in small groups with a mental health professional, and support was also offered to staff — both the Friday after the stabbing and into this week.
Both boards says the support provided to students and staff in the aftermath of a traumatic event isn’t cookie cutter — it depends on the nature of the situation and the ages of students involved.