MARYSVILLE — One month after a student shot five friends and then himself, the tributes and condolences lining the Marysville Pilchuck High School fence are coming down.
Marysville School District leaders say it will be a delicate process, which is set to begin during student lunch Monday morning.
The long stretch of chain-link fence at the southwest entrance to the campus has served as a shrine to slain classmates Gia Soriano, Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, all 14, and Andrew Fryberg, 15. There were also some kind words written there for the shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, 15. All were shot in the head during lunch in the school cafeteria Oct. 24.
Messages were there, too, for Nate Hatch, 14, who was shot in the jaw. He is recovering at home.
The fence became a giant and colorful collage of photographs and posters expressing sympathy and personal thoughts.
With its flowers, balloons and red and white ribbons, it served as an outlet for grief, a place for mourners to gather or reflect alone.
> See a panoramic photo of the memorial fence.
Students and staff who choose to participate will begin removing items some time after 10 a.m.
They were informed of the plan on Friday afternoon. Families of the dead and injured students also were told about the plans late last week so they could visit the site over the weekend.
“The memorial fence was put up to support us and our families,” Marysville Pilchuck High School assistant principal Lori Stolee said. “Now we need to honor and respect those we have lost. A part of healing for our school community and for our surrounding community is we need to take down the wall.”
Mary Schoenfeldt has provided advice to the school district about the sensitive act of clearing the site. She works in emergency management for the city of Everett, but she’s also been involved in school crisis response since the 1990s. Her expertise has taken her to more than two dozen schools facing ordeals, including suicides, natural disasters and school shootings, including Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Schoenfeldt recognizes that removing the temporary tributes can be emotional. She has seen them taken down too early or in the dark of night, prompting a backlash.
It is important for students to have the chance to be involved, but it’s also important for people to realize that the fence is not intended to be a permanent memorial, she said. Creating that will come later.
“This is not a memorial at all, not in the traditional sense,” Schoenfeldt said. The materials on the fence “are expressions of sympathy and they become this remembrance, but it is very much a temporary piece.”
In the weeks and months ahead, the district will be looking for community feedback about ideas for a permanent memorial.
Schoenfeldt compared the tributes along the fence to a sympathy card and a memorial to a headstone.
“The headstone is the permanent piece,” she said. “It’s time to get it off the mantel, but we don’t need to see the card every time we walk into the living room. Removing the visual reminder doesn’t remove the memory of who was lost.”
Some students on buses find it difficult to pass the fence each day. “It is making it harder for them to move forward from that emotional perspective,” Schoenfeldt said.
Flowers taken from the fence will be composted. The paper items will be burned and the ashes saved. School officials are deciding exactly what to do with them. Other communities that have endured similar tragedies have used the compost for plantings to remember their loved ones. Cleanup began Saturday at Comeford Park, where a display in support of Marysville Pilchuck was being removed in preparation for the holiday decorations.
School officials plan to have extra counselors available on Monday. They know that cleaning up the fence might be emotional.
Schoenfeldt said it might be a good day for parents to check up on their children, to give them the opportunity to talk about their feelings. People also can call Victim Support Services at 425-252-6081 or the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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