Grieving father ‘really happy’ with Richland graduation change of heart
Caelan Chastain, a Hanford High School student who died last year, will have his name acknowledged among the graduating Class of 2022 at next weekend’s commencement.
The Richland School District initially planned to designate one empty chair at graduation to represent all students who had died before reaching graduation day. But no photos or other recognition was planned to the dismay of Chastain’s family.
But in a Thursday letter to families, school officials said plans had changed to also give “spoken recognition” to those who died, and they will read off their names for their families.
“This is an important and challenging question, and district and school leaders are seeking to support the needs of students, families and the community respectfully and responsibly,” said the unsigned letter from the district.
The change effects six high school graduation ceremonies next weekend, including the district’s two largest, Hanford High and Richland High. The change will only effect ceremonies this year, though, and school administrators are planning to review it in the future.
But it was welcome news for the Chastain family.
“I am really happy with that decision,” said Jim Chastain. “I think it will help more parents than just us, and I feel like that’s a really important outcome.”
Caelan Chastain died by suicide in 2021. His classmates began a Change.org petition recently in an effort to get him his own “empty chair.” By Thursday about 1,900 had signed the petition, including students, parents and teachers.
Some argued that by not acknowledging Chastain’s death it continues to stigmatize suicide. But others are concerned that too much publicity may glorify and even encourage deaths by suicide.
A Tri-City Herald story on Sunday detailed the Chastains’ frustrations with the school district’s position on memorializing students at graduation ceremonies.
Jim Chastain said having the empty chair without acknowledging his son’s existence was an “empty gesture,” and his family considered not even attend the ceremony.
Feedback from the family, community members and students ultimately led to the change. The district said it struggled with, “How does RSD best meet the community’s need to address grief and support healing while keeping graduation a day of celebration for the class of 2022?”
Ty Beaver, Richland’s director of communications, said Thursday that their standard practice has been based on “years of training and guidance” from mental health experts and advisors including the Forefront Suicide Prevention program.
While not every staff member on the district’s Mental Health Assistance Team agreed with the graduation ceremony change, Beaver said they recognize there is a “sea change” at the national level about how to best address grief around childhood deaths.
“This was not an arbitrary or very easy discussion,” Beaver said. “Best practice has been in the past that you don’t do this. There is now conflicting evidence about whether that is true or not.”
“Our ultimate goal is to make graduation a joyful event and we ask the entire community to join us in making that happen for the Class of 2022 and for our future graduates,” said the letter sent Thursday.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 5:32 PM.
