Students, faculty and staff will begin a new school year Tuesday at Glen Lake School in Goffstown with heavy hearts, as they mourn the death of kindergarten teacher Wendy Arnold Tefft.
Tefft, 38, was found dead Thursday morning in her home on Barnard Hill Road in Dunbarton. She suffered a single gunshot wound, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin.
Authorities have released few details about her death, but are calling it “suspicious.” Strelzin said investigators are looking into whether there was “any criminal involvement.”
Police have not made any arrests and are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death.
Tefft had worked in the Goffstown School District since 2010 and would have welcomed her new class of kindergartners Tuesday morning. An open house took place at the school Thursday – hours after she was found unresponsive in the home she shared with her husband, Christian Tefft, and their child.
School leaders responded to the news Saturday on the district’s website, after declining to comment Friday to the Monitor. They assured community members that systems are in place to support grieving students and staff.
In a letter addressed to parents, Glen Lake School principal Kathy Stoyle wrote, “We are heartbroken and grieving, and our hearts are with all those who loved her.”
Stoyle said faculty members will not be discussing Tefft’s death with their young students. “We leave it to you, as parents and guardians, to address that if and how you see fit.”
In a separate memo on the school district’s website, Superintendent Brian Balke expressed his condolences to Tefft’s family. He called Tefft a “beloved teacher” and said the school community was “devastated to hear of the tragic death.”
Tefft was scheduled to begin her third year at Glen Lake School as a preschool and kindergarten teacher. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester – where she made the president’s list at least two semesters – and a master’s degree at Rivier College in Nashua.
She was certified to teach elementary and general special education, according to an online blog she developed for her classes. The blog, last updated in May, includes numerous photos of her students doing arts and crafts, participating in reading circles and a meet-and-greet with Goffstown firefighters.
In a newsletter dated September 2015, Tefft updated parents on the progress their children were making in her classroom in reading and math.
“Your children are amazing! They are coming in ready to learn every day. It is so wonderful to see their smiling faces every morning,” Tefft wrote.
Glen Lake School’s principal assured parents in her letter Saturday that their children will be in good hands when classes start. A certified teacher who has worked as a paraprofessional since 2006 will be teaching Tefft’s class, Stoyle wrote.
On the district’s website are tips for helping children cope with grief and loss. That information can be found at goffstown.k12.nh.us/SAU19/.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319, adandrea@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @_ADandrea.)