Visit the family. Offer your services ( transportation, help at schools for siblings, making meals). If you are the teacher of the deceased student, visit. I have taken educations classes recently and this is one topic that has come up in every class. Teachers, parents and college professors have all said that we should keep the family involved in the school, offer assistance where needed, talk about the deceased child ( don't avoid the childs name) or act like the child didn't exist. We lost a dear friend who was only 16 yrs old in a tragic accident. His parents told me that the one thing that help them deal with the accident and their loss was the friends who visited and talked about their son. It has been just a year now and we still talked about our memories of their son with them and keep them active in things happening at schoold, scouts, etc.

We lost a student in a tragedy a couple years ago. And it was terrible for all. We,actually, found a local nursery who donated a tree for part of our tribute, then I went to a local headstone maker and he donated a small piece of stone and engraved her name and dates on it. It is a beautiful reminder of our sweet life we lost so suddenly. And it does give the rest of the students a small memorial to see. and visit. it is right near our playground. We also released balloons with hand written messages from students who wanted to write them. It just help the children feel more connected to the events and know that we should all care. God bless!!

Our school has suffered a horrible tragedy. A student who graduated from our elementary school passed away a few days ago leaving us all heartbroken. She was a wonderful girl and will be missed greatly. Her younger brother will be a 3rd grader and we are all devastated. I wonder what we can do to help the family, the children at our school, community the list could go on and on. As PTO president I have no idea of what I should do. This is something no one ever expects and I could use a little guidance.
Thanks,
Nancy