American Hospice Foundation, Washington DC, USA

By Helen Fitzgerald, CT
September 2005

A.  Introduction

Hurricane Katrina is by far the greatest natural disaster our country has ever had to face.  The victims of this tragedy have lost family members, friends, neighbors, as well as their home, pets, clothes, financial security, neighborhood, and their way of life. With the inescapable attention that this tragedy has received in the media, how should educators address the issues bound to arise in the minds of children?  This is a special challenge for those who work in schools that are hosting the children displaced by Katrina.  

B.  Before the Arrival of the Evacuated Students

1. Inform the class that new students from the Gulf Coast will attend the school.
2. Brainstorm on what the class can do to make the new students feel welcome.
3. Plan projects to raise money that will be sent to needy families.
4. Describe normal grief feelings, pointing out that the evacuated students may express anger, guilt, hopelessness, fear, and profound sadness.
5. Introduce interactive classroom activities designed to teach the power of loss and grief.  At the high school level, start by asking the students to list five of their most valuable possessions.  Take this list from each student, rip it up, and throw it away.  Ask each student to describe their feelings about “losing” their most precious possessions. With younger students, take time to let them talk about an important “thing” they have lost and how hard that was.
6. Create a readily available suggestion box where students can drop in their ideas and concerns.  Ask if these can be shared with the class and encourage sharing and discussions.
7. Meet with school counselors to plan how they might take turns monitoring the halls. These counselors will be “safe” adults that students can talk to.
8. Offer educational materials on grief to the hall monitors as well as teachers.
9. Seek support, materials, and/or in-service workshops on grief from community organizations, including mental health centers and hospices.

C.  After the Arrival of the Evacuated Students

To integrate the Katrina evacuated students into the classroom, teachers and counselors should meet with the new students and their parents to:

1. Hear their stories.
2. Let the new students know that you have already talked with the class.
3. Ask the new students if they would like to tell the class what has happened or if they would rather that the teacher do so.  These stories can be told over several days, especially if several evacuated students have joined the same class.
4. Make sure the students know that counselors are available to listen and help.
5. Provide written information to the new students regarding the school’s schedules and policies so that it can be taken home to share with family members.
6. Walk the new students around the building and show them their lockers, their classrooms, and bathrooms.  If the school is large, a map would be useful.
7. Give the parents information on the process of grief and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) so that they can monitor the progress of the students and make necessary referrals.  For information on PTSD, the website www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/ptsd70.htm has a “Facts for Families” page provided by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.  Also, have a referral list of therapists available for parents.       

D.  Looking Ahead

It is likely that the evacuated students will stay for a semester or the whole school year, so it is important to develop long-term strategies to monitor their progress:

1. Be aware that the losses suffered by the evacuated students could trigger some tensions in the classroom.  Let students know who is there to help them.
2. Include in the daily schedule some time set aside at the beginning of the day where students can talk about their fears or concerns, what they heard on the news, etc.
3. Develop support groups facilitated by school counselors or other trained mental health professionals.  An art therapist would be an asset as a group leader or co-facilitator for any group that would be using drawing as a way to express themselves.
4. Schedule regular meetings with parents for the first school year.  These meetings may need to be more frequent in the beginning, perhaps every two weeks for the first two months and then monthly.
5. Watch the writings and drawings students create. Do these have a death theme, do they seem hopeful, or are they expressing feelings of grief?  Never hesitate to ask questions regarding what a student has written or illustrated.  If a student’s work shows signs of thoughts such as extreme anger, hopelessness, guilt, or signs of wanting to hurt him/herself or others, seek outside help for this student.
6. Watch for worrisome signs.  For example, are the students falling asleep in class, getting into lots of arguments with classmates, failing in their studies, not eating, getting into trouble with the law, etc.?  Refer the student to a professional if these behaviors persist.
7. When the evacuated students depart, they will suffer yet another series of losses, leaving behind their temporary home and new friends.  As that time approaches, plan to discuss the move with the whole class.  Small, inexpensive gifts can be exchanged.  The students may want to write good-bye messages that the evacuees can take with them, and the evacuees may want to leave behind a poster with their own messages.
8. Encourage students to become pen pals for future correspondence.
9. Hold regular debriefing sessions for school staff to gain support and problem-solve together.

© 2005. American Hospice Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

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