Monday morning at 7:30am I received a phone call from a high school administrator asking me if I had already heard the news of a student, possibly one of mine, who was murdered outside of his home while waiting for his ride to school. I had not. So when I was told that one of my students, a 7th grader, 13 years old, was murdered, it didn’t process immediately.

By 7:40am it was confirmed that my student was dead.

By the start of school at 8:50am I had an office full of 7th and 8th graders that were grieving. It has been that way all day today as well.

Today, my Assistant Principal and I visited the student’s father and brothers. His mother lives in Oklahoma. We took the family food and toiletries to assist in their time of need. We listened, we hugged his older brother and his middle brother who is an 8th grade student on our campus as well. He wants to come to school but has to help his dad with all that is going on.

All I could think about is how do I help my grieving students at the site through this difficult time?

I was browsing through Feedly and came across this Edutopia blog on assisting grieving students. Please read on for information on assisting grieving students and how to provide them with a supportive environment: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-grief-at-school-2-chris-park