Josh Graves put in life-and-death terms the Lawrence school board’s decision to comply with do-not-resuscitate orders for terminally ill students.

“I’m here because of my brother,” Graves told the school board Monday. “He died yesterday.”

Graves, a 14-year-old student at West Junior High School, said his brother, Zachary Frey, died Sunday after his body rejected a transplanted heart.

Zachary’s mother, Teri Frey-Snell, had attempted to enroll her son at Hillcrest and Sunflower schools, but she was blocked by lack of a district DNR policy.

The 11-year-old boy died one day before the board’s 7-0 vote Monday in favor of establishing rules that permit school staff to comply with a DNR order and withhold medical care if Zachary’s heart stopped or he stopped breathing at school.

“This is a picture of him,” said Graves, clutching a framed color portrait of Zachary. “He was a very joyful person. He loved school.”

One of Zachary’s unrealized goals was to be with friends and teachers he loved during the final months of his life, he said.

“He would want little boys and girls all over Lawrence to have a chance to go to school until they couldn’t go any more,” Graves said.

Under the new policy requiring final approval in January, the district’s 1,700 staff will be expected to call 911 in a medical emergency involving a student covered by a DNR order. Assistance will be limited to making the student comfortable.

Lawrence police and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical officials have agreed to comply with the policy.

The Kansas Association of School Boards opposed the district’s DNR policy. KASB officials say they know of no other Kansas public school district with such a policy.

Graves said his brother didn’t want to be resuscitated in a medical emergency.

“He didn’t want to live through the pain and suffering. He deserved the right to die. He also deserved the right to go to school.”