Schools at a loss: How districts handle teen deaths varies

RIVERTON — George and Darla Serassio would have liked the opportunity to clean out their son's school locker.

But when their nephew went to Riverton High School to see about it the day after J.J. Serassio died, the locker's contents — a trumpet, bookbag, notebooks, photos and other items — were already in the front office.

The grieving couple, particularly Darla Serassio, found that insensitive.

"There would have been some closure," she said. "It's so cold to walk in and there sits his stuff the next morning."

Principal Steve Park followed Jordan School District protocol when he had J.J. Serassio's possessions removed.

School administrators in the district typically secure and empty a deceased student's locker within a day or two, said spokeswoman Melinda Colton. In the case of suicide, it's done to look for suicide notes or messages that other students might have slipped inside, she said.

With emotions running so close to the surface, how schools deal with the death of a student can be a touchy issue. It gets touchier when the student takes his or her own life.

Though schools become a focal point when a student dies, there is no standard policy in Utah for handling suicides. Individual schools and school districts treat them differently. Some have written guidelines, others have unwritten established practices. Some leave it to the principal's discretion.

Schools typically contact the family, call in grief counselors, watch out for at-risk students and attend the viewing or funeral. But whether to honor a suicide victim in a yearbook or how to announce a death to the student body varies.

After a suicide last month at American Fork High School, the administration said nothing per wishes of the family. Jordan and Granite school districts make a general announcement void of specifics. At Grand County High School in Moab administrators give students as much information as possible, including manner of death, to keep the rumor mill from churning.

J.J. Serassio was one of two Riverton students who killed themselves within three weeks last fall. He and Blake Eggett were not connected. They vaguely knew each through band. Blake played the flute, J.J. the trumpet.

Both had friends, but neither was part of the "in" crowd. Blake was a soloist in the marching band show. J.J. was known more for his small stature.

Still, their suicides impacted Riverton students, including one who wrote the Deseret Morning News pleading for more information on the typically taboo subject.

"I didn't know these kids but yet I was still affected by their passing, and I thought I needed to try and help get the word out about it so maybe there will be less suicides among teens in the future," junior Norchelle Halbert wrote.