HAMMOND – Hammond Central School is providing grief services to students and faculty following the recent death of a student.

Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley, through a BOCES agreement, has been instrumental in helping the school cope with the aftermath of the loss.

"I spoke with (Hammond Superintendent) Karen Carswell on Tuesday afternoon and she could not say enough good things about her staff and administration, and the camaraderie of her fellow superintendents who offered assistance. She also could not have dealt with this tragedy without the support of Hospice and specifically Director of Family Support Services Mary Jones,” St. Lawrence Superintendent Tom Burns said.

St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES has a Co-Service (COSER) agreement with Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley on behalf of all 18 school districts and the BOCES.

As per the agreement Hospice provides on-site grief counseling to students and staff at our schools in the wake of a tragedy.

Hospice staff works with the school’s crisis teams, counselors and school psychologists to provide additional support.

Grief support is also provided and teacher and counselor education and training is given to staff to teach coping tools.

Hospice also provides the districts with training, publications and informational material related to grief in addition to the on-site support and grief workshops.

The school was delayed 90 minutes Tuesday following news of a Richville teen’s death.