Amen. I'd only say: add to that the grief counselors called in to convince children (most of whom had no clue who the poor kid was) that their young lives are irreparably scarred by his tragic passing and that they need professional help dealing with it.

I hope there will be plenty of people at school that notice.
He will not be at the bus stop, or in his seat on the bus.
There will be at least 7 teachers who will see his name on there roll, and have to delete it.
His seat in class will be empty.
Then, there are the buddies that he walked with to classes, had a locker by his, sat with him at lunch, or with him on a team during gym class.
And in the future, if any of these people ever become principals, they will have a much better response to give than the one given by this lady, who is obviously clueless.

A bum on the street could have given a more humane response than that wretched woman. Poor little kid. He could see the lights of the demolition derby and wanted to get money from his mom to go. What happy plans he had.

THS- Who can explain the institutional grief counseling phenomenon? It's like smokejumpers parachuting in to put out a campfire. It'll be weeks from now before it all sinks in and a kid might need to talk to someone.

From my years in the news business, I learned that all too many principals regard their schools as their kingdom and refuse to allow anyone other than them to be interviewed. As the reporters have been instructed to talk to someone who can personalize the story, they are frequently stuck with the principal.

When I was in the 7th grade, one of the three seventh grade teachers dropped dead suddenly. The next morning the remaining teachers told us the news - we had a moment of silence, then hit the books. I don't believe I was scarred by the incident.

Thanks for that explanation, Juan. They need to pass on the principals though, and the quote from this particular principal was obscene as it coupled sympathy-seeking for the marginally connected with the complete absence of any willingness to bear an actual moment of sadness for the real victim.
My neighbor across the street is a young widow. Her very sweet husband of 12 years died after a protracted fight with a brain tumor. After his death she'd spend the evenings wearing his dirty clothes and watching home movies of their vacations. *She* was "dealing with it" the best she could.

Early in high school there was a girl in my class who died from huffing aerosol deodorant in an attempt to get high. The only medical intervention I might have required from the news would have been that of an opthamologist to treat eyes tired from too much rolling.

As a former reporter, I can tell you that at some point in the late 80s/early 90s this became perfunctory. It was as easy quote, even if the school rep gave it little thought like this lady, and it was way better than approaching the family.

This is the result. Everyone just plays their roles and says their lines. Thank you for pointing this out.

Ha....I hadn't read Juan's above statement when I posted. Good points.

Our culture is so convoluted. We make such a huge deal of the effects of these deaths on people who, as you note, more than likely didn't even know the newly departed. Grief counselors on campus the next day and following weeks, TV interviews, etc. etc. etc., ad nauseum. But it's all for the purpose of "getting over it", "moving on", "starting over". There's no desire to truly deal with the effects of the death, only to get past it so it won't inconvenience anyone any longer.

Shameless.