'Constant sadness': Perry schools grieve for 2 students, teacher killed in car crashes
A little more than a month after two students were killed in a car crash, the Perry Community School District and the community were rocked by the death of a high school teacher.
“I think there’s a cumulative effect of that, particularly among staff,” said Perry High School principal Dan Marburger. “We have to get out of this trend, it’s almost constant sadness.”
A March 9 crash near Perry killed 13- and 15-year-olds Walter and Daisy Gavidia and left 17-year-old older sister Edlyn Gavidia in critical condition. The three Jamaica teens were all Perry students. Chad Morman, a 39-year-old industrial technology teacher from Perry, was killed during a crash in the early morning hours on April 23. A separate single-vehicle crash on April 20 killed Kurtis Gustaveson, 29, of Perry.
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“I don't remember a time in the last 20 years where we've had so many separate fatality accidents in the same time frame,” said Dallas County sheriff Adam Infante. “We've had several where multiple people died in the same accident, but that's different. These are all separate accidents, and they seem, unfortunately, to be in and or near Perry. That community is really suffering right now.”
A show of support from Perry community, surrounding school districts
In the wake of those deaths, Perry schools and the crash victims’ families have seen an outpouring of support from Perry and the surrounding communities. GoFundMe pages were started for the Fuentes-Gavidia and Morman families while a Meal Train was started for the Gustaveson and Morman families. A taco salad fundraiser at the Hotel Pattee raised more than $12,000 for the Fuentes-Gavidia family while a fundraiser is planned for May 5 in the Perry Hy-Vee parking lot for the Morman family.
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“You never want to have tragedy, but I’m proud of how everyone has rallied together,” said Perry superintendent Clark Wicks. “From the Elks to the fire department to the police department, to the city. Everyone is coming together and we’re all Bluejays and Jayettes. That’s been a positive thing to try and take out of a very tragic and negative thing.”
Marburger said community members and organizations also have provided food for school staff.
“Our community has been unbelievable to our staff up here,” he added. “They’re very, very thoughtful and we’re very thankful for that.”
Surrounding school districts also have reached out, Marburger said, including Waukee, Adel, North Polk and dozens of others. The Nevada boys soccer team presented flowers to the Perry team before the start of last week's home soccer game.
“Public schools are really good about talking to each other and helping each other out,” Marburger said. “All of them offered to send counselors our way and we’ve done the same before to send counselors their way anytime something like that happens. They’re really good at supporting each other.”
Perry students, staff remember Chad Morman
The atmosphere at the school has been a subdued one, Marburger said, as students and staff reacted to the news of Morman’s death.
“It’s really different how a death affects students and staff members,” he said. “For example, we had one young man that Chad had given a ride over to the building trades work site. It was just probably a four or five minute conversation he had with Mr. Morman but it affected him pretty heavily.”
As for Marburger, he noticed an empty seat during a recent professional development. “And it struck me right there, there’s no one sitting in that seat where Chad normally is,” he said.
Morman was a former Perry High School student and was in his fifth year of teaching in Perry. Wicks said Morman was involved not just in the classroom but also helped with concession stands, SkillsUSA and built homes.
Morman started the building trades program at the school where students built homes in the community. The Perry School Board approved the program in the spring of 2019 and four homes have been completed.
Marburger said the building trades program wouldn’t have been possible without Morman.
“He had the knowledge he brought with him from his previous school. He generated excitement and had the connections in our own community that he could bring in, contractors and people to show our kids how to do that," he added. "That’s going to be really, really tough to replace.”
Morman also volunteered in the community, served overseas in the National Guard and was a husband and father to three young children.
“It’s the little things. I went down and on his desk is a mug that he drinks coffee out of, that says ‘Husband, Dad, Veteran,’” Marburger said. “Those were just things that he was very, very proud of and I’ll remember about him.”
“He was a good guy to work with, good for students and has a great legacy,” Wicks added. “We’re going to miss him, that is for sure.”
The Register's Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this story.
Allison Ullmann is the editor and reporter for the Perry Chief and Dallas County News. Reach her at aullmann@theperrychief.com.
This article originally appeared on Perry Chief: Fatal car crashes in Perry kill 2 students, teacher as schools grieve
