Death of a Teacher

Teaching programs prepare us for teaching  students and provides us with the content knowledge to be a successful teacher.  However,  what these  programs cannot prepare is life.  Last week, my school lost a teacher and I lost a friend.  We received the news around noon on Monday. I along with other staff members met with the principal to discuss a plan.  My principal asked us to set our feelings aside to support the staff and students. This was not going to being an easy task.  However, we proceeded with the plan, which consisted of being visual and releasing teachers as need be.  Once we delivered the news to the teachers, we proceeded to meet with individual classrooms to discuss with students.   We called upon the school district crisis team to assist.  I held one of the crisis rooms that students could come to discuss their feelings or perhaps sit in silence to gather their thoughts.   We relocated the teacher's classroom to help ease those the students grieving process. We made it through the week, by going into survival mode and allowing students to grieve.  On Friday, we the students shared moments they had with the teacher and released balloons in honor of her memory.  As a staff, we traveled out of state to her funeral during the  weekend.  Reflecting on the week and this week,  I've realized as a leader, there are things that you deal with that may appear to be in sensitive and seem harsh to some. However, I do not think if we had remained in our feelings rather than focusing on the students and the staff, the transition through this ordeal would have been as smooth.  As a leader, there will be times, where difficult times, will require a mindset not clouded by feelings in order to work for the betterment of all.  As we discussed school crisis, I noticed that school crisis teams normally do not think of the death of a faculty member  as a crisis that a school may need to address.  Hopefully, this blog will serve as a reflection for school leaders to consider as you plan for crisis.