SCITUATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Administration Office 606 Chief Justice Cushing Highway Scituate, MA 02066 PHONE (781) 545-8759 FAX (781) 545-6291
SCITUATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Scituate, Massachusetts
District Policy SUBJECT: MEMORIALS FOR DECEASED STUDENTS OR STAFF I. PURPOSE The purpose of this policy is to clarify the criteria and the approval for proposed commemorations and memorials for Scituate Public Schools’ students or staff. The School District recognizes that the loss of a member of the school community is deeply felt by students, staff, and families. Following the loss of a Scituate Public Schools’ student or staff member, the primary focus of staff will be on helping those (staff, students, and families) affected by a death to make connections to appropriate school and community resources. [Note that this policy is only intended to guide Scituate Public School’s procedure; it is not intended to influence other organizations and/or agencies in commemorating a loss of life.] Sometimes, in the immediate aftermath of a crisis or death, memorials are proposed without full consideration of the potential implications for students, staff, families, and the community. This policy provides District parameters to guide decision-making regarding school-related memorials. II. DEFINITIONS Commemorations: An observance or celebration designed to honor the memory of some person or event. Memorials: Objects or activities to remember a deceased person or an event that resulted in death. Building Crisis Intervention Team: A designated group of staff members, within each school building, who plan and implement mental health support for grief
recovery. Crisis: Any natural disaster or unexpected event that negatively affects a student, a staff member or a significant group of the school population and usually involves serious emotional, psychological and/or physical injury or death. Impact: The magnitude of the potential loss or seriousness of the crisis. District Crisis Intervention Team: A designated group of staff members who develop and execute district-wide procedures for the handling of mental health needs during the recovery phase of a crisis situation needing grief support.
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III. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY A. All activities that take place at school as a result of a student or staff death must be approved and coordinated through the Building Crisis Intervention Team (BCIT). The BCIT will assist families and students in selecting activities that are appropriate for school and will assist students in healthy bereavement. B. In recognition that schools are designed primarily to support learning, school sites should not serve as the main venue for the memorializing of students or staff; C. All deceased students and staff will be treated similarly; D. Memorials following a death from suicide must not glamorize, romanticize, or stigmatize the act of suicide. Rather, a programmatic response to making better choices should be the appropriate reaction. E. Temporary school memorials, as approved by the school principal, may be displayed seven to ten days following the day of the funeral and will then be given to the family. Allowable temporary memorials are flower arrangements, banners, pictures, notes, and locker and student desk displays. F. Memorial symbols displayed by individual students or staff within school facilities and/or on school grounds must be removed seven to ten days following the funeral. G. Celebrations of said student or staff shall be organized 8 – 12 weeks after the funeral; H. Graduation dedications in the school yearbook or elsewhere are subject to the approval of the Principal and the Building Crisis Intervention Team. I. School district facilities will not be used for memorial services or funerals. However, the superintendent, in consultation with the District Crisis Intervention Team, has the discretion to approve school and district-wide memorial activities in certain extenuating circumstances, such as when a crisis event or death of a student or staff member has a significant impact on a majority of students, staff, and community. J. School staff will monitor anniversary dates and may provide small group or individual counseling and/or other supportive activities to friends of the deceased in order to assist with grief recovery. School-wide recognition of anniversary dates will not occur.
K. Permanent memorials for deceased students and staff are limited to endowments and scholarships. These may be established either as one-time or perpetual awards, with a description of the purpose of the endowment or scholarship. Note that the school district reserves the right to accept or decline permanent memorials as previously described. M. The greater municipality will investigate and establish a community-based site for permanent memorials such as engraved bricks, small plaques, or a grove of dedicatory trees. M. Memorials established prior to the initial adoption of this policy are not affected by this policy.
Adoption: June XX, 2009