Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993 TAG: 9301060145
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
`HARD DAY' DESCRIBES SCHOOL'S MOOD AFTER SUICIDE
Christiansburg Middle School's crisis-intervention team was mobilized for the second time in 10 weeks Tuesday to help students and teachers deal with a child's suicide."It's a hard day," said Judy Rutherford, director of guidance for Montgomery County, when asked about the mood of pupils and teachers at the school.
Jessica L. Collins, a seventh-grader, shot herself in the face with a .44-caliber magnum pistol around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. She was the daughter of Darlene and Joe Wood of Christiansburg.
Collins, who police said left a suicide note, was in a bedroom in the family home at the time of the shooting. The gun had been kept on a closet shelf.
Bill Fletcher, principal at the middle school, said roughly 15 pupils and 10 faculty members, including himself, attended Collins' funeral Tuesday.
In October, Lucas J. Riley, a 12-year-old friend and classmate of Collins, died after shooting himself with a rifle at his Christiansburg home.
Counselors and other crisis-team members were ready Tuesday when students returned for their first day of school following the holiday break.
Guidance counselors from the three elementary schools that feed the middle school were brought in to assist the middle school's two counselors and school psychologist, Rutherford said.
The elementary school counselors were asked to help because they know the students at the middle school, she said.
Another guidance counselor at Shawsville, who taught last year at Christiansburg Middle School, and a psychologist from the county's mental-health agency also were asked to help out, Rutherford said.
"The fact that it's been a couple of days between the event and today helped somewhat and the fact that the building had the [crisis] plan," she said.
Every school in Montgomery County has a crisis-intervention plan to deal with events that might have an emotional impact on students and staff.
That's "so people know exactly what to do in an emergency and don't have to start from scratch," Rutherford said.
The teams usually include guidance counselors, principals and some teachers. The teachers themselves are trained on what to do in case of an emergency and how to identify children who might be having problems coping.
On Tuesday, the school contacted the parents of children the faculty believed might be most affected by the latest suicide.
Rutherford agreed that the suicide of a child can be frightening to parents.
Such suicides don't just happen without warning, she said. There usually is a series of events that can provide clues to a child's emotional state.
Rutherford urged parents who have concerns about their children to call the school's guidance counselors. The school is ready to provide parents with the names of professional counseling services if they are thought to be needed. This morning the school's staff will keep a close eye on pupils, especially those who still appear to be upset, Fletcher said.