KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen | Dozens of students seeking counseling after child's death

Dozens of students seeking counseling after child's death

by Patrick Tolbert and Henry Rosoff

WACO - Teachers and students at J.H. Hines Elementary school are "trying as best as possible to hold a normal school day," Thursday in light of Wednesday's death of 5-year-old Princanna Strain.

Fifteen counselors from across Waco I.S.D. were on hand to help students with their grief, district spokesman Dale Caffey said. "I have been told that dozens of students received counseling," he said.

"Children deal with it in different ways," said Liz Harris, who is coordinating the district's efforts.  "But the bottom line is children know something happened.  You have to address that and provide an opportunity for them to be able to express themselves so they can deal with it."

Harris was one of the first people told about Princanna, who died when she and some other students we playing on a portable closet.  That closet collapsed before the instructor could get the children to move away from it.

Harris's first move was to talk to recommend alerting parents.

"It was in the best interest of the children to provide the information to the parents so they could be the first teachers to their children," Harris said.

Phillip Holton, the father of 6-year-old Chance, agreed with the school's strategy for handling the situation.  He said he was able to craft a message specific to his son that he felt was appropriate.

"Basically I explained to my son what happened, not the details of it, he is a kid and doesn't need to hear all the details of the situation," Holton said.

However, Harris said the role of professional counseling cannot be underestimated. Counselors went classroom-to-classroom at J.H. Hines.  They spoke with classes as a whole and offered individual counseling to students who showed signs of needing it.

Hap LeCrone, a local adult psychologist, was also on hand to work with grieving teachers and faculty.

"We taught them that things happen, and about the grieving process: that it's ok to grieve and be sad," Harris said.  "We also offered opportunities for children who do not know how to show their emotion.  They could write, they could draw pictures, they could even do a card for the family."

Counselors will be at the school again Friday and will have a presence on campus until the district decides all student and teacher needs have been addressed.