OAKVILLE, Mo. – It’s a sad start to the school year at Oakville Middle School in south St. Louis County after a popular teacher at the school recently passed away.
Oakville Middle School Principal Mike Salsman sent a letter to Oakville Middle families late Monday night to share the sad news that Mrs. Kathy Arbuthnot had died.
Arbuthnot was a beloved math teacher and Project Lead the Way educator at Oakville Middle since 2006, according to Salsman’s letter.
Eric Spiegel, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, understands that the loss of a popular teacher can touch students in different ways.
“Emotionally, they’re feeling a lot of different things anyway – going back to school after summer. Children’s emotions are much more heightened at this time,” he said. “It’s a big deal. Imagine you didn’t have a job for a few months and have to go back into the office, that’s what it’s like.”
Oakville teachers spoke with students Tuesday and additional counselors have been available to meet with students as needed.
Salsman said children react in different ways to the death of someone they know, adding that parents or caregivers should be straightforward with kids.
“Parents or guardians who want to help kids, it seems to me, is to not be afraid to have conversations with their kids about this,” Spiegel said. “We sometimes avoid talking about death and use euphemisms about death like ‘passed away.’ Things like that. Really, with children, you want to be as clear as you possibly can and explain to them in terms that they’re going to understand.”
