Mat-Su School District ready to help grieving students

PALMER — As news spread around the Valley of the Butte mobile home fire that killed five children Thursday, officials with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District prepared to respond in their own way — with counselors and student support.

“Wherever anybody is needed, they will have somebody,” said Jillian Morrissey, a spokesman for the district. “We’re identifying the main areas where we need to provide additional resources. Just because of the nature of our small town, we’ll make sure anybody who needs support will have that.”

Morrissey was unable to provide specifics about which schools are impacted, because the victims have yet to be officially identified. However, she said once those names are released, a message will go out to all parents at the impacted schools, letting them know what happened and what resources are available.

“We’re keeping it focused on those schools because they’re the ones that are going to feel the most immediate impact,” she said.

From there counseling and other resources will be available.

“Children respond to grief really differently,” she said. “We meet them where they are and let them know that they can connect and trust us.”

Although the Borough’s elementary schools do not have school counselors on staff, the district has counselors they can deploy as needed. The district also plans to connect parents with additional resources to help their children with the loss.

Morrissey said if any child needs help processing what happened, parents should contact the district regardless of whether or not their child attends the victims’ schools.

“We try to think of all of the threads of those relationships, so if we miss one, we would happily hear it and we would figure out what would work best to help,” she said.

Butte Elementary reacts to tragedy

Parents of students at Butte Elementary and Palmer Junior Middle School (PJMS) received a message just after 2 p.m., Thursday telling them that students at those schools, as well as a student at a local preschool, had died in the fire.

"As you discuss this sad news with your child, please let them discuss their thoughts and feelings," said the email, signed by PJMS principal Brad Allen. "They will be comforted by talking calmly and honestly about their classmate or friend who died."

Allen pledged to provide parents and students with funeral and other details as able.