The stuff you find.....

.....when cleaning out old files and papers. I found this letter dated April 10, 2006 from SV's principal to the SV parents:

Dear SV Parents,
The SV Elementary Community has suffered a tragic loss in the death of third grade teacher, Kari Baker. Mrs. Baker passed away at her home this weekend. Her two daughters, both SV students, and her husband have our deepest sympathies at this time of overwhelming grief and loss.

This morning at school, teachers shared with students about the loss of Mrs. Baker. Mrs. Y, our school counselor, visitied with Mrs. Baker's class, the other five third grade classes, and was available to meet the needs of other students in the school as needed. Dr. P, school psychologist, was also on hand to help students and staff as they work through their feelings at this difficult time.

I respectfully ask your support and understanding as the school family deals with their loss and as we do our best to minister to the Baker family in their time of bereavement. Please know that you can call Mrs. Y, our counselor, or me if there is anything we can do to help your child through the next few weeks.

Our hope is that, together, we can show the kind of love and care for one another as we honor the memory of Mrs. Baker by doing what she so capably did by showing her dedication to children and their education.

Sincerely,
Mrs. M

I will say that the school really seemed to do as well a job as can be done at a time like this. From what Bro said, one day that week they asked each one of the children to pick one of Mrs. Baker's most special things in the classroom and they put them together in a box to be taken to Matt and the girls. It made the kids feel like they were doing something to help. I've always wondered what happened to those special things after they were delivered. They had a couple other activities that seemed appropriate in helping the kids deal with a shock and grief such as this. It's a shame this kind of thing has to be dealt with by children at all.