I hope you are taking good care of yourselves and each other this Friday afternoon. As you’re aware, there was a car accident on Folsom Boulevard during afternoon dismissal yesterday that resulted in major injuries to a parent of one of our Phoebe Dragons. We learned last night that, unfortunately, this parent did not survive the accident. While we are not yet at liberty to share the family’s information, I know we share a collective shock and grief, and will provide support and care to this family and each other.
Today, district leaders and the crisis response team were on campus to support our staff and students and will return next week. We met with staff before school to brief them on the available resources and to encourage them to access them for themselves and their students throughout the day. Also next week, our district social emotional learning team will be here to support our teachers and students with community building and healing practices as needed.
The children and adults in our community will undoubtedly have a range of responses to this situation, based on their exposure, prior experiences, and development, and this incident may trigger other negative memories and emotions. Because there were so many children and families present when the accident occurred, it’s important for you to know that children have been sharing what they saw and what they heard at school today. We are doing our best to check in with and monitor the well-being of your children at school, and I encourage you to check in with them as well, be open to conversations with them, and reassure them that the adults in our community will work together to make coming and going from school as safe as possible. If you’d like some resources for navigating this with your child, these resources may help. Please feel free to reach out to me if you think your child would benefit from working with our crisis team on campus next week.
As usual, our Phoebe community has been generous and compassionate in response to this tragic accident. I want to thank those of you who responded to the accident yesterday, supported the families involved, and ensured all of our children were safe and cared for. Our office staff, teachers, and I have received countless calls, emails and texts asking how you can be of support. Our PTO is working on a collective way for us to support the family, so please standby for more information on that next week. On Tuesday, they will provide green ribbons for us to wear in support of our affected student and family. For now, please feel free to leave flowers and mementos for the family at our front gates throughout the weekend.
Superintendent Aguilar and Board Member Garcia asked me to share a few words with you this afternoon as well.
“We take the safety of our students and families to heart. A tragic accident such as this should give everyone pause to realize the roads around our schools need to be treated with extreme care. We extend our deepest sympathies to our impacted families and we are extending them our full support during this time.” – Jorge A. Aguilar, Superintendent, Sacramento City Unified School District.
“Like you, I am devastated that we lost a member of the Phoebe family in a pedestrian accident. Parent pickup is often a joyous time as families reunite after a day of school, and it’s easy to forget the dangers of high speed traffic. I’m committed to work with city officials to thoroughly investigate this accident- and improve street safety. We are grateful to those present who quickly responded to help a fellow parent in their time of need.” – Leticia Garcia, Board Member, Sacramento City Unified School District.
I am endlessly grateful for the kindness and generosity of this community. Please take care of yourselves and each other this weekend.
Sincerely,
Michelle Pechette
Principal
