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School prepares to mourn Math Dept. head

By Debbie Gardner

PRIME Editor





CHICOPEE Grief counseling will be available all week to help Chicopee High School students and faculty deal with the death of the school's Math Department Head, Christine M. DoCarmo.

DoCarmo was killed in an early-morning accident on Route 90 in Palmer on Oct. 20.

Her wake was scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 23, the funeral the following day.

"This is far-reaching for the Chicopee High family," Principal Roland R. Joyal, Jr. told The Herald in a telephone interview on Oct. 22. "Her mother works in our cafeteria, and has for a long time, and her son, Hunter, was in our preschool last year and again this year."

"We were all shocked and devastated by the news on Saturday," he said. "Chrissy was a teacher here since 1997, the past three years she was not only a teacher but a supervisor . she had great responsibility."

Joyal said the blow is doubly difficult because DoCarmo was also a 1993 graduate of Chicopee High who had returned right after college to teach at her alma matta.

He said the school's crisis team met on Saturday to begin planning how to help students and fellow teachers work through this tragedy. They met again on Sunday, and the full complement of faculty and staff gathered at 6:30 a.m. on Monday to prepare for what he called "a hard week."

Joyal said that Superintendent Richard Regge and the Chicopee Public School have provided him with additional phychologists and counselors to help students and faculty deal with their grief.

"We have safe haven [rooms] set up where students and faculty who might have difficulty dealing with this can go for support," he said.

He said the school has also set up a writing wall "where students can go and write some of their thoughts about Mrs. DoCarmo."

Joyal stressed that if parents are concerned about their child's ongoing reaction to DoCarmo's death, they can call the school at 594-3437.

"We have extra [counseling] available this week and, if we need to, will bring in extras as time goes on."

He added that the school's guidance counseling staff is also prepared to help students cope on an ongoing basis.

Joyal also told The Herald that, for himself, the shock of losing DoCarmo has been hard to absorb.

"She and I actually stayed a little later on Friday because we were hiring a new math teacher," he said. "She had put together all the books [the hiree would need], a welcome packet, and even gotten [the new teacher] a tee shirt," he said.

"It's a loss. You have a missing piece of a puzzle that you'll never replace," he said.