College Community lays groundwork for clergy counseling aid

CEDAR RAPIDS - The College Community school district is taking steps to create a network of clergy members in the district to help with counseling in the event of a traumatic event. The district is inviting members of the local clergy to lunch Jan. 20 to discuss forming the network.

The Rev. Tom Carver of United Methodist Church in Shueyville will help lead the event, which also will be attended by school administrators and guidance counselors.

Five of Carver's children have attended class at College Community, so he knows how difficult it can be to connect clergy across the district. 'We're so spread out with the various communities,' Carver said.

'It's really just a time to get better acquainted with the district and the administration.' The invitation comes a week after counselors were brought to Mount Vernon High School in connection with the death of a student. Carver said the timing is coincidental, but that event and other school tragedies in the last few years have revealed new difficulties facing grief counselors of school-age children.

'Not that many years ago, a death like that would happen and there would be an opportunity to make an announcement. Now kids are finding out ahead of time through Facebook, email and text messages,' Carver said.

That means students may not have help available for them at the moment they first learn of the tragedy, which is when they are most vulnerable, Carver said.

'You need to be comforted and be with other people,' he said. 'Now there's the possibility that students could be off by themselves and get a text message and not have other people to help them.' Carver said he and his colleagues still are learning about how to cope with the faster spread of information, and he hopes networking the local clergy will help.