Grief Team Remains At Foothills Elementary Today

By 250 News

Looking across the school field to Foothills Elementary School

Prince George, B.C. -  Students and staff return to classes at Foothills Elementary School this morning, after having had the weekend to try and process the sudden death of a Grade 7 boy on Friday morning...

School District 57 officials released news of the tragedy to the media on Saturday afternoon.  The boy had apparently been playing ball in a field and failed to get up after diving for a catch.  He was transported by ambulance to the University Hospital of Northern B.C., where he passed away a short time later.

The cause of death is not known at this time.  And it is unclear, at this point, if RCMP are investigating the incident.  A call to the detachment was deferred to the RCMP's media relations officer who is back in later this morning.

School Board Chair, Lyn Hall, says, "I'm not sure if they're involved or not, I don't know. I certainly haven't been in touch with them. I'm not sure if Mr. Pepper (District 57 Superintendent) has or not, but, at this point, we're really waiting on the medical folks to come back to us and give us some idea -- not just us, but certainly his family -- as to what happened."  (A call to Brian Pepper was not returned)

Residents living in the Foothills neighbourhood are shocked and saddened by the news.  One woman who's son attends the school says her child did not see the accident occur, but says many students did witness the event.

School District 57's Critical Events Response Team arrived at the school very shortly thereafter and was on-hand through Friday evening and the weekend to meet with children, staff, and parents needing assistance.  Hall is crediting the team with doing an unbelieveable job in this difficult circumstance.  He says many people utilized their services over the course of the weekend and the team will remain at the school until everybody wanting to has had an opportunity to meet with them -- likely tomorrow or Wednesday.

"I think from there, my anticipation, is there will perhaps be a number of one-on-one meetings with students if they require that assistance by the team, (and) probably some class discussion -- particularly the class the student was in -- so it will continue to be much like we provided over the last couple of days since the incident occurred."

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