New Coalition Launched to Help Educators Address the Needs of Grieving Students

Kickoff Event Held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday marked the formal launch of the Coalition to Support Grieving Students, a groundbreaking new collaboration among ten of the leading professional organizations in the K-12 space. NAESP is proud to be one of the Founding Members.

The moving event featured a sixth grade student from New York who told the audience of his school experience when his father died of sickle cell anemia. Basically, the school overreacted and handled the crisis insensitively, announcing the news over loudspeakers and directing that all grief counselors report to his classroom. Jonah was embarrassed and felt judged.

Principals need to know how to address this issue, whether it is the death of a parent or family member, another student or even a parent who is incarcerated.  There is also a need to “de-stigmatize” this condition. In the United States, approximately one in 20 children will lose a parent by the time they reach 16 years of age, and the vast majority of children will experience the loss of a family member or friend by the time they complete high school.

Educators need to know what to say and how to act and until now, there was little guidance given which offered tools to identify the signs of a grieving student, such as irritability, isolation and absenteeism.

In 2014, NAESP received a grant from Lead Founding Member New York Life Foundation to improve the way principals can address grief. Almost 70 percent of teachers say they have at least one grieving student in their classrooms, but only 7 percent of those educators received any training in bereavement. For the first time, this coalition can help educators ease the grief journey of children who have lost a loved one. A new online toolkit, grievingstudents.org, is also now available.

“The immense need for schools to deliver better support to their grieving students is reflected in the Coalition members’ impressive commitment to this initiative,” said New York Life Foundation President Heather Nesle. “Although school professionals have long confronted the issue of student grief, for the first time, all of the right stakeholders are formally working together to address this issue in a concerted, interdisciplinary way.”

Introductory remarks were made by David Schonfeld, MD, Director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. “At home, a child may be reluctant to upset family members who are also grieving. Schools are a place for bereaved children to receive support from trusted adults who have a safe emotional distance from their loss.”

The founding member organizations of the Coalition to Support Grieving Students are the School Superintendents’ Association (AASA), American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American School Counselor Association (ASCA), National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), National Association of School Nurses (NASN), National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA-HIN), and the School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA). The lead founding members are the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement and the New York Life Foundation.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.stchristophershospital.com/pediatric-specialties-programs/specialties/690

http://grievingstudents.scholastic.com/