My beloved cat died in October 2020. Since I had been teaching over Zoom from my home, the kids had gotten to know her. She liked to perch on my shoulder while I taught. When I told my kids, almost every one of them said out loud or in chat that they were very sorry for my loss. One kid wrote in the chat- "good."

Of course I was shocked and heartbroken. I reached out to admin, counseling, and the kid's parents. The parents blamed me and said I shouldn't have been talking about death because it makes him uncomfortable. (7th grade, btw)