Austin Cook, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at John Muir Middle School, died Thursday at about 2 p.m. after collapsing during a midmorning run in his physical education class.
Austin collapsed at about 10:30 a.m. when the class was running laps. He was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center where doctors attempted to revive him.
The cause of death has not been confirmed but is believed to be of natural causes related to a heart problem.
Students were released from class at the regularly scheduled hour Thursday and Burbank Unified School District administrators released a notice about Austin’s death 5 p.m.
On Friday morning students were directed to go to their first period classes instead of their homerooms so that the district’s crisis team — comprised of psychologists, counselors and administrators — could speak with sixth-grade classes immediately.
Counselors from other middle schools in the district were deployed to Muir middle as well as counselors from the Family Service Agency of Burbank.
"We have also set aside the library for teachers to send students to meet individually with the counselors and small groups of friends," said Jan Britz, assistant superintendent of instructional services.
The library was set up as a safe place for students to come to grieve, cry and express any intense feelings they had regarding Austin’s death.
Britz and Deputy Supt. Joel Shapiro were on campus Friday morning providing extra support in the main office and around campus.
"Our counselors are trying to deal with this," Britz said. "They’re the experts."
Muir Middle School stayed open for a full school day on Friday with much of the morning devoted to classrooms activities that addressed the boy’s death.
Students were given a chance to write and talk about their feelings and listen to other students while teachers were allowed to modify their lesson plans for the day to reflect on their woes.
Staff at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, where Austin attended class throughout his elementary years, also met on Friday morning to discuss what they would do to address his passing.
Jefferson’s principal Esther Salinas addressed the upper-grade students Friday morning and informed them of his death.
"We have counseling support here on campus," Salinas said. "It was mostly the fourth- and fifth-grade students who remember him .. .. . so we have made that available to students who wish to express their thoughts and concerns."
Grief counselors and psychologists will be available for students to speak with next week as well and the school also plans to keep the library or another location on campus open as a gathering space for grieving students, Shapiro said.
"We were so sad to hear this news," Salinas said. "He was such a vibrant student. Anyone you speak to who knew him, he was just so admired. So, naturally, our sympathy goes out to his family."
