Students, faculty face loss of teacher, colleague

DEXTER, Mo. -- Somber faced, teary-eyed students streamed out of the gymnasium at T.S. Hill Middle School Monday morning after learning the details of the death of one of their teachers.

When students arrived at school for classes Monday, most had already heard the news concerning the death of Kristy Becker, who taught social studies at the Dexter school. The students quietly filed in the gymnasium and awaited the start of a new -- and different -- school day.

Following an early morning faculty meeting, principal Kent Polsgrove walked out into the center of the empty gym floor and talked to the students. In a frank and open manner, Polsgrove told the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students of the traffic accident that claimed the life of one teacher and left another injured. At the end of his talk with the students, they quietly streamed out into the hallways on their way to class.

Becker was killed in an automobile accident Saturday morning. She and fellow teacher Susan Watkins were driving to Paducah, Ky., when the vehicle driven by Watkins left the roadway and overturned several times down a steep embankment. Watkins teaches art at the middle school.

Polsgrove said all of the school district's counselors were called in to assist both students and staff members in dealing with the loss. In addition, a number of Dexter area ministers were also at the school Monday.

Teachers worked through their own grief and the grief of the students throughout the day Monday.

"The Ministerial Alliance are here to help," Polsgrove said. The ministers stood in the school lobby and many shared hugs and spoke to students as they arrived at the school and also as they were going to class.

"They just really want to know that everything is going to be okay," said the Rev. Phil Warren of Dexter's Second General Baptist Church. Warren and his colleagues stayed on hand at the school throughout the first hour of classes, talking to students who just needed a shoulder to cry on or receive some comforting words.

On hand from the school district were school counselor Nancy Langley, as well as Juanita Fischer and Pam Lewis of the district counseling staff.

Many of the students at the middle school made arrangements with parents and the school to attend Tuesday afternoon's funeral service for Becker.

The majority of the school's teachers also attended.

Polsgrove said Monday that he was struck by the support the teachers and school administrators have received. He said one retired teacher called and volunteered to substitute in Becker's class and other people in the community have offered help and assistance.

"It says a lot about the kind of town we live in," Polsgrove said.