Englewood school uses 'Lion King's' circle of life to tell students of teacher's death

First grade teacher Elizabeth Feliciano-Rosa had a personality larger than life, which made it even harder to tell her students when her life was cut short.

Feliciano-Rosa, 54, was hit by a pickup truck just after 5 p.m. in her hometown of Dumont on Thursday. She later died due to her injuries.

Known to students in Englewood public schools as "Ms. Rosa," Feliciano-Rosa spent nearly two decades teaching. She had worked as a first grade dual language teacher at Dr. John Grieco Elementary School in Englewood since September 2015.

Drawings from her students hung on the light pole at the intersection of Washington and Madison avenues, where she was struck. Balloons and dozens of bouquets lined the sidewalk as a tribute. "Ms. Rosa we will miss you" was written on one of the signs, along with a drawing of an angel.

Englewood Schools Superintendent Marnie Hazelton said she wanted to make sure Feliciano-Rosa's students knew of her death before anyone else in the school did.

On Friday morning, Hazelton gathered the rest of the students and staff into the cafeteria as they arrived at school, and she went to Feliciano-Rosa’s homeroom class.

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For the 6- and 7-year-olds, Hazelton said, she needed to gauge their concept of death first, so they talked about what they loved most about Ms. Rosa. Students were asked if any of them had ever lost a family member before they were told she wasn’t coming back.

She then went to tell the rest of the school about the teacher's death.

“I felt it was really important that her students received the news in their classrooms away from the rest of the school,” Hazelton said. “We’ve also been relying heavily on 'The Lion King' and the 'Circle of Life’ to help them process what death is.”

The superintendent said she spoke with Feliciano-Rosa’s husband briefly and shared a message with the school community from him. “He just wanted to thank them for all their love and support," Hazelton said.

Grief counselors are at the school for staff members and students.

"We are fortunate to have the crisis intervention team from Bergen County, because everyone is affected, from the cafeteria workers to staff and students," Grieco Principal Daniela Small-Bailey said. "Everyone's life was touched by her."

As an educator, she was second to none and was always direct with everyone, her colleagues said. She demanded high-quality work from her students and put her whole heart into the job.

More: Death of teacher in Dumont car crash was 42nd this year and part of disturbing trend

"If she was reading a book that had a penguin in it, you would see her walking around the classroom as a penguin," Small-Bailey said. "She just embodied everything she was doing. That was her personality, and we are going to miss it in the building."

A GoFundMe page created for the Feliciano-Rosa family has raised over $37,000, after an initial goal of $25,000.

"She walked into the room and the atmosphere shifted because she was there," Small-Bailey said. "She had such a great smile, an awesome personality, and could always find the lighter side of whatever was going on in our district and our building."

"She was just an exceptional, exceptional teacher with a great personality," Small-Bailey said. "It's just difficult to wrap my mind around her being gone. It would be one thing if she was sick, but this was just so sudden and tragic. It's really hard to wrap my head around that type of loss."

Ernest Hofmann, 94, was charged with a second-degree count of knowingly leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death and a fourth-degree count of obstructing the administration of law, and was issued several summonses, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Hofmann was held from Friday into Saturday at the Bergen County Jail. He was released Saturday on monitoring level 3 and his driver's license was surrendered.

Visitation for Feliciano-Rosa will be held Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Volk Leber Funeral home in Oradell.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: 'Lion King' helps Englewood school tell students of teacher's death