JOYCE — Crescent School District leaders are seeking federal funding to continue support for seventh-graders who witnessed the suicide of a classmate last month.
Schools Superintendent Rich Wilson said he applied for about $50,000 in grant funding from the Department of Education to help students, parents and school staff recover from the traumatic incident.
The entire seventh grade — 18 students — and their teacher, Debbie Hibbard, were present in a classroom when 13-year-old Joe Rogers shot and killed himself near the end of a language arts class March 17.
The youngster had brought a .22-caliber rifle to school in a guitar case.
District officials could learn April 14 if the funding called Project Serve, a Department of Education-sponsored program to help schools respond to traumatic events, has been approved, Wilson said.
The funding would provide counseling support for students, staff and parents through the end of the year, plus some support during the summer months.
Funds would also be used to pay for a long-term substitute teacher that could co-teach seventh-graders who are unable to return to the classroom when Hibbard and other students are ready to resume classes in it.
The classroom is in a portable building adjacent to the Crescent School building.
