Kiski Area High School grieves online for student killed in ATV crash

As soon as he heard the news, Principal Chad Roland began making a list.

Kiski Area High School senior Dominic G. DeFalco, 17, was killed in a rollover ATV crash in Allegheny Township on Sunday.

Now, amid a transition to full-scale digital learning and the stress of a global pandemic, the high school is also trying to craft a response to the death of a student. They are learning to grieve virtually, providing resources and support from afar.

“It’s tragic and terrible any way you slice it,” Roland said. “Especially under these circumstances, you can’t do a lot of the things you need to do to support the staff and the students. You can’t even get them together to allow them to grieve together.”

After Roland learned of the incident from the township police, he wrote out everything he would normally do when faced with a student’s death: Reach out to the family. Call a staff meeting. Contact counselors from other districts and county agencies. Compile or create resources to help the students.

Once it was all on paper, Roland tried to create a “virtual equivalent” for each step.

At this point, he doesn’t know how effective those virtual efforts will be.

“When you have them in school, you’re able to see who is struggling with it,” Roland said. “It’s a little easier to identify who needs support.”

Roland said he’s been in touch with the family, and the high school counselors got together Sunday afternoon for an online video conference. The district held a virtual staff meeting Monday morning, and hosted another online forum in the afternoon for students to “get together and grieve together” in a sense. Roland sent a video message to students and staff as well, in an attempt to make communication more “personable.”

Administrators say several students have already sought out teachers and guidance counselors for help.

“I struggle, truthfully, because it’s just such a human business and you’re dealing with a tragic personal loss, and you can’t even get in the same room as people,” Roland said.

After working as an administrator for nearly 14 years, Roland has had to deal with a student’s death before. It is shocking and harsh under normal circumstances; it’s the “worst part of the job,” he said.

Dave Williamson, one of DeFalco’s teachers, described the struggle to grieve a student and support his classmates when you can’t even see their faces.

“It’s just really eerie,” said Williamson, a social studies teacher. “It’s like we’re not able to be there for [the students].”

DeFalco was in Williamson’s sociology class during his junior year. This year, he was taking Williamson’s economics class.

“He was just a talented and an overall great young man,” Williamson said. “He was talented on the soccer and baseball fields, had exceptional grades and outstanding rapport with his peers. Just a good kid, just an all-around good young man.”

Had schools been physically in session today, Williamson knows he would have been confronted by an empty desk. He said he would have tried to make the class as normal as possible; but right now, nothing about the situation — or the school day — is normal.

Roland said the school is doing all it can to “overcommunicate and be proactive,” trying to provide resources and comfort from afar. The staff is pulling together in more ways than one, he said, supporting students and each other.

“I think everyone’s hearts are in the right place,” he said. “That’s what makes it pretty special working in a community like this. People seem to bond together no matter what the circumstances.”