Nazareth Schools to Offer Grieving Program

Thanks in part to a professional caregiver with children in the Nazareth Area School District, an after-school program for grieving students in grades four through eight soon will be available in the district.

The school board Monday night approved a pilot program—at no cost to the district or families—to be run by Compassionate Care Hospice, described in its website as a “community-based organization” with operations in 21 states.

Its local office is on Route 100 in Upper Macungie Township.

Meanwhile, board member Chris Miller, who opposes the program, says he inadvertently voted in favor of it because the vote also applied to another, unrelated motion.

Miller said he has emailed district business administrator Bernadine Rishcoff, who also serves as secretary during board meetings, about getting his vote changed.

”I suspect I will be able to do it at the next meeting,” Miller said in an email Tuesday.

During Monday’s meeting, he said the grieving process “belongs in the hands of parents” and called the program a “serious mistake we are going to regret down the road.”

Also at Monday night's meeting, Miller cast the lone “no” vote when the board gave final approval to the 2012-2014 budget.

Rishcoff said in a separate email Tuesday that Miller contacted her “and we will follow the process that our solicitor advises us to follow.”

Compassionate Care calls its grief program “COURAGE.” Lori Yoder, bereavement coordinator at the Upper Macungie office, described it as a grief and bereavement support group for grades K-12, designed for four to eight students per group who are about the same age.

The program runs for six weeks and meets one hour per week after school, Yoder explained in an email. The program is “for any student [who] has suffered a significant loss which includes loss due to homicide, suicide or illness.”

Yoder said Compassionate Care chose the Nazareth district because her coworker, Wanda Harris, lives in Nazareth and has children in the district.

”She [Harris] felt as through the COURAGE program would be an asset to the district and is aware that Nazareth SD is open to programs that are supportive and helpful for the students,” Yoder said.

She added that the program currently is being offered in seven states – Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Delaware and Ohio – but she does not know the specific counties in each state.

Superintendent Dennis Riker confirmed that Compassionate Care approached the district. He said that before moving the proposal to the board’s Education Program Committee, he had several meetings with Compassionate Care’s administration.

”In our discussions, we agreed that a pilot program focusing on interested students/families of children between grades 4 and 8 would be appropriate,” Riker explained in an email.

”We know that there are numerous families that are currently having a difficult time with a loss – to the point that many of them may not be capable of fully providing the attention needed by their children,” he said. “This program will help students in that situation.”

Riker also said that at the completion of the pilot program, “the district will re-evaluate our options for next year.”

Meanwhile, Miller—in his email—listed several reasons he opposes the grief program. Among those:

• “I honestly believe it is something that should be handled at home.”

• He took issue with Compassionate Care representing itself as non-profit. “That is very misleading to a lot of people in that they think that all will be free. In reality, a lot of non-profits are very profitable otherwise people would not work there.”

• He said that to his knowledge no school officials would attend program sessions, “so who knows what will be said to the kids. That leads to will the parents be told and can they be told by the children.”

Yoder and Harris were asked via email if they had any reaction to Miller’s opposition to their program, although they were not given a copy of his email.

”No, Wanda and I have no reaction to Chris Miller’s comments because I think everyone is entitled to his/her opinion,” Yoder said.