Ketchikan elementary schools resumed classes this week after losing two staff members over winter break. A kindergarten teacher at Point Higgins Elementary School and a paraeducator at Houghtaling Elementary passed away in separate occurrences around the Christmas holiday.
Stephen Bradford, the president of the school district’s Board of Education spoke at the Ketchikan Gateway Borough assembly meeting on Jan. 1.
We, in our elementary schools, lost two beloved staff members in tragic and unexpected losses. And staff has been working diligently to figure out how to lessen the impact on those children that are going to have a huge adjustment today when they return and find that their teacher is not there or that or the para in that classroom is not there.
Bradford said that social workers and staff counselors were on hand at the elementary schools to help the students process their grief. He added that the losses are also a tragic reminder of the important role educators have in the lives of their students and in communities.
“It just emphasizes to me how important our school districts are to our communities,” he said.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District superintendent Michael Robbins confirmed the losses in a phone call and said it was a tragic time not just for families but the district as a whole. Robbins declined to comment further on the identities of the deceased educators at this time.
