Student death is any educators nightmare. And unfortunately, Ive been through it. But preparation is your own lifeline during any kind of crisis. In this post I share with you a downloadable document to support your crisis team in how to effectively respond to a student death.
But before you open it up, here is a word of caution. This document is meant to be downloaded, read, analyzed, changed, and adapted to meet the needs of your particular school community. I am in no way telling you that this is exactly how your school should do things. In fact, you are going to need to review your own school and district policies. This document just represents how one middle school, in a suburban area of Seattle does things, lead by me.
And here is how this document works:
- While school counselors can take the lead, crisis plans should be reviewed and updated at the beginning of every school year by a team of people.
- It is imperative that you disseminate this crisis plan in an all staff meeting, in email boxes, and post in places that all key stakeholders have access to.
- Do not wait. Do not allow any crisis plan to be put on hold. Talk it out now.
Please download the Crisis Plan for Student Death below (in word format). If you have any questions/comments or additional ideas that would be helpful for me as a middle school counselor please reach out to me at kaleydianne@gmail.com. With love, from Dr. Mitchell.
Student Death Crisis Plan (Word Document) (657 downloads)
BONUS: Updated Crisis Plan for Tragic Event During COVID-19 (or other school closures)
Remote Grief Crisis Supports (573 downloads)