Guidelines for Student or Staff Sudden Death (Part 1)
Following a traumatic death, people can feel a sense of loss for at least two years. Frequently, aftereffects are felt as a pervasive sense of malaise among students and school staff. School staff can be devastated well into the next school year, and there may be a change in attitude toward teaching. Some staff may increase their emotional distance from students. Students tend to be fearful of getting close to one another, fearing the loss of another classmate or friend. The need to cope adaptively is necessary. These guidelines are written to help deal with these concerns and to establish procedures for student sudden death.
Guidelines for the Immediate Aftermath
Day of a Sudden Death
- Upon notification of the sudden death of a student or staff member, the building principal notifies the director of student services or the administrative assistant for guidance and counseling. One of these individuals notifies the superintendent and the assistant to the superintendent for communications.
- The principal initiates a "call tree" to all faculty and support staff, informing them of the sudden death and requesting their arrival at school 30 minutes earlier to attend a special faculty meeting.
- Telephone conferences with the district's crisis team are held to plan tentative activities for the next day (the day after the sudden death).
First Day After a Sudden Death
- The school principal meets with the crisis team 30 minutes before meeting with faculty to plan the aftermath of the sudden death.
- The principal reviews the available facts of the case with all faculty and support staff to dispel rumors, to discuss the plan of the day, and to allow for faculty and support staff to express feelings. Faculty/staff are encouraged to lend support to one another.
- A member of the district crisis team describes some of the feelings the students may be experiencing following the death of a classmate: disbelief, anger, denial, sadness, and loss. Suggestions are reviewed on ways to handle expressions of grief in their classes.
- A crisis center is established in the school building. Additional student services staff from other buildings may be called in to assist with the crisis. A member of the crisis team will make phone calls to parents of students who are particularly upset or may be at risk. The crisis center may be kept open after school hours and into the evening to assist students, parents, and staff.
- Peer helpers may be assembled to work through their feelings, and the crisis team will offer them some guidelines for helping troubled students.
- A letter from the principal may be sent home with students notifying parents of the sudden death, providing them with information regarding the stages of grief, and listing reading materials that are available in the school media center on the subject of death.
- School staff are assembled at the end of the school day. The principal or his/her designee conducts the meeting and does the following:
- Allows for the expression of feeling and mutual support
- Reviews the events of the day
- Reviews the characteristics of high-risk students (those who seem especially upset or depressed or show other signs of not coping well) and compiles a list of staff observations of distressed students' reactions during the day
- Announces the funeral arrangements (Staff may be encouraged to attend if they feel a special need or to provide support to students and their families.)
Days Following a Sudden Death
Crisis team members continue crisis intervention, answer phone calls of anxious parents, and meet with concerned staff, as necessary.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (2009, October). Guidelines for student/staff sudden death. Retrieved June 11, 2024, from https://training.fema.gov