FORT WALTON BEACH — Nothing will be the same at Liza Jackson Preparatory School after the sudden death of Assistant Principal Phyllis Green, but school officials say they are ready to walk students through their grief.
From the moment they walk through the door Monday morning until they head home, students will be given ample opportunities to absorb the change and mourn the loss of Green, said Terri Roberts, the school’s CEO.
Green, who had been at the school since it opened in 2001, passed away Dec. 27.
“We don’t know quite what to expect, but we’ll be prepared,” Roberts said. “One of the good things about Liza Jackson is we are like a family and everybody helps everybody.”
School leaders met with teachers and staff Thursday for a celebration of Green’s life and to outline a plan of how they will approach the first week of school after Christmas break, Principal Mary Gunter said.
“I wanted to meet with the staff first because I wanted Monday to just be for the kids and not for us being really sad,” she said.
During Thursday’s meeting, they developed a statement that each teacher will read at the start of the day explaining Green’s passing. Students also will be told that counselors and psychologists will be on hand if they want to talk, Gunter said.
Two memorials for Green will be in place for students Monday. One will be on the stage in the cafeteria and feature photographs of Green.
The other will be outside in Green’s designated parking space. In a nod to her well-known personality, school officials decided to place one of her famous rain boots in the space and fill it with flowers.
Green was well known for wearing the western-style boots while she directed traffic in the morning, Gunter said.
Additional memorial plans at the school have been put on hold for now. The staff wants to get students through the first stages of grief before going forward with anything else, she said.
“We’ll let them talk to us and tell us what they want to do,” Gunter said.
Roberts said Liza Jackson has not started looking for a new assistant principal yet, but she expected the job to be advertised in the next two weeks.
Until then, she and other members of the Liza Jackson family plan to step forward and help wherever necessary.
“It will be hard, but Phyllis would want us to go on,” Roberts said. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
