School coping with death of teacher

Jace Radke

Tuesday, March 6, 2001 | 11 a.m.

Monday proved to be a long, emotional day for the students and staff at Christensen Elementary School as they dealt with the loss of second grade teacher Debra Block Adler.

Staffers at the school, located in The Lakes near Desert Inn and Fort Apache roads, wore purple ribbons, and an empty bulletin board at the school's front door was labeled as a memorial for the teacher, who was found dead in a desert area in Henderson Saturday night.

"Some of the children wanted to write letters to Mrs. Block's husband and her parents, and we plan on putting those up on the bulletin board as a memorial," Principal Dr. Patricia Schmidt said. "It was a hard day, but we spent a lot of time with Mrs. Block's class reading stories, talking about their teacher and answering questions."

Block Adler was walking on Whitney Mesa, near the intersection of Sunset Road and Arroyo Grande Boulevard, when she fell and died, Henderson Police said.

Block Adler was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday, and her body was spotted by a Metro Police helicopter about 8 p.m. Saturday. Teachers from Christensen were among those canvassing Block Adler's Henderson neighborhood on Saturday looking for their missing friend.

Lisa Chapman, a friend of Block Adler's for 10 years, said that her friend was doing something she loved when she died.

"She was out hiking," Chapman said. "She loved to be out in nature. She was a wonderful, caring, kind person."

Assistant Principal Anika Johnson said that Block Adler, who taught at Christensen for two years, would be missed.

"She was a wonderful teacher who was well liked at the school, and the kids just loved her," Johnson said.

Schmidt and her staff shed most of their tears at a meeting on Sunday night, where they grieved and prepared themselves to answer the inevitable questions from the students.

"We had the district's crisis team of counselors and psychologists available to help teachers and students," Schmidt said. "I spent a lot of the morning in Mrs. Block's class. We sat on the floor, read some stories and hugged stuffed animals. By the end of the day the children had started reading and were doing wonderful."

The investigation into Block Adler's death remains open, but detectives say the death was accidental and are waiting for the official cause of death from the Clark County coroner, Henderson Police spokeswoman Officer Valerie Klein said.

The school is working with the family to set up a memorial fund in Block Adler's name to be used to buy reading materials for the school. The school also plans on hanging a painting of Block Adler in the school's library, and the letters from the students will eventually be made into a book that will be sent to the family.

Private services for friends and family will be held at Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave. on Wednesday. Block Adler is survived by her husband, David Adler, parents Beverly and Ardwin Block, brother Brian Block and in-laws Wolf and Muriel Adler, all of Las Vegas.

The family is asking that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the the memorial fund, the Lied Discovery Children's Museum or the Make a Wish Foundation.