CAMARILLO : Crisis Teams Help Students After Loss

The Valle Lindo School crisis team sprang into action on the first day of school in January, prompted by the death of a 10-year-old Camarillo student who died from a brain tumor during the Christmas holidays.

Team leader Candra Shiney-Norris, a school psychologist contacted at home during the holidays, took the first step: She gathered as much information as she could about the boy’s death.

Shiney-Norris learned that the fifth-grade student, whom she declined to name, had been receiving treatment for cancer since last summer. He began complaining of leg pains late last year, and was taken to the hospital, where he died.

Shiney-Norris gathers such information, partly to control rumors and to clear up misconceptions among students, especially the young, she said. One child, for example, had heard that the boy had developed the tumor after falling out of a tree.

In another case two years ago, a girl died after a brain aneurysm, and a student who had hit her the week before thought he had killed her. “In his mind, he had maybe some blame or some guilt,” Shiney-Norris said.

Identifying the boy’s family, friends and classmates helps team members know who may be affected the most. In this case, the team talked to classmates of the boy’s two sisters and brother, who also attend school in the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District.

Team members told students that they might feel better about the loss by sending a sympathy card to the boy’s family. But they cautioned the students not to ask too many questions of the brother and sisters when they returned to school.

The students were also told that if they wanted to talk more about their feelings or to ask questions, they could come and visit a crisis team member.

Shiney-Norris said a student may take the death even harder if that student recently has experienced a death of a family member or friend. “It brings up those feelings again and they just need to talk about it,” she said.

Each school in the district has its own team, though some members are common among the district’s 13 schools. At Valle Lindo, the team consists of Shiney-Norris, psychologist in charge of the entire district, the principal, and the psychologist and nurse assigned to that school.

Last year, the team at the 1,000-student Las Colinas School had its work cut out for them. A 9-year-old boy was hit by a car and killed during open house at the school.

The crisis team met with many children and about 10 parents who were concerned about their own children’s welfare on the streets. “They saw it as a dangerous intersection,” she said.