Several Farmingdale High School students hurt in bus crash being taught at home
Investigators check the bus Sept. 22, the day after the crash. The band director and a chaperone died in the crash and dozens of students were hurt. Credit: Howard Simmons
All but several of the Farmingdale High School students injured in a deadly charter bus crash last month have returned to their classrooms, school officials said.
The students learning at home are getting a mix of teacher visits, home tutoring and online learning, Farmingdale schools Superintendent Paul Defendini said last week. Defendini declined to say the exact number of students who have not returned to school in person or give a time frame regarding their return.
“We have a push-in model where we actually have teachers that are able to provide services in the home,” he said. “We have an opportunity for our students to also learn virtually when that might not be available or when they might not yet be ready to have other people in the house.”
One of those students is Audrina Crocitto, 15, a freshman who suffered spinal and neck injuries from the crash. She opted for online learning because she said it would be hard for her to get around in a big school.
“We're just very nervous that I'll get bumped in school or I’ll get knocked over because it's very crowded in school,” she said at a news conference Wednesday at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. “I'm looking forward to going back to see all my teachers, my friends. But I'm going to do whatever it takes to heal first.”
The Sept. 21 crash killed the school's marching band director, Gina Pellettiere, 43, and chaperone Beatrice Ferrari, 77, and hurt dozens of students, some of them critically. The bus they were in, one of six en route to a band camp in Pennsylvania, tumbled down a 50-foot embankment on Interstate 84 in rural Orange County.
Band practice resumed about a week after the crash, Defendini said, and the band performed at the Newsday Marching Band Festival and homecoming earlier this month.
The superintendent said the school’s goal is to provide “as typical a type of school environment as possible” for students and continue to support those who struggle.
“As we get into concert season and all of those moments where we would celebrate and be together, we're still going to celebrate, we're still going to be together, and we're going to provide the support that we need to make sure that kids are able to continue to experience that and staff continues to have the support that they need,” he said.
Cordelia Anthony, a Farmingdale High School science teacher, echoed the superintendent’s sentiments of creating an as-normal-as-could-be environment, though that normalcy may not be the same to everyone.
“It's such a shock, such a trauma, that it's a matter of ‘Can we actually get back to what we were supposed to be doing in a regular school year?’” she said. “I don't think that's completely possible but we're going to try to get as close to it as possible.”
Anthony, president of Farmingdale Federation of Teachers, noted educators are sensitive to the reality that the crash may have longtime impacts on students. They are paying close attention to their emotional well-being.
“We'll be definitely monitoring them and keeping an eye on them, whether they were on that bus or one of the other buses or if they're a sibling of one of the injured students, or friends [of those students],” she said.
Defendini said the district has not made plans to fill Pellettiere’s position. So far, staff members have stepped in to cover her classes.
“We'll revisit that a little bit later in the year,” he said. “We're certainly not in a place where we're … looking to replace Ms. P at any point right now. Now our focus is just keeping things nice and consistent with the staff that's currently in the building.”
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All but several of the Farmingdale High School students injured in a deadly charter bus crash last month have returned to their classrooms, school officials said.
The students learning at home are getting a mix of teacher visits, home tutoring and online learning, Farmingdale schools Superintendent Paul Defendini said last week. Defendini declined to say the exact number of students who have not returned to school in person or give a time frame regarding their return.
“We have a push-in model where we actually have teachers that are able to provide services in the home,” he said. “We have an opportunity for our students to also learn virtually when that might not be available or when they might not yet be ready to have other people in the house.”
One of those students is Audrina Crocitto, 15, a freshman who suffered spinal and neck injuries from the crash. She opted for online learning because she said it would be hard for her to get around in a big school.
“We're just very nervous that I'll get bumped in school or I’ll get knocked over because it's very crowded in school,” she said at a news conference Wednesday at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. “I'm looking forward to going back to see all my teachers, my friends. But I'm going to do whatever it takes to heal first.”
The Sept. 21 crash killed the school's marching band director, Gina Pellettiere, 43, and chaperone Beatrice Ferrari, 77, and hurt dozens of students, some of them critically. The bus they were in, one of six en route to a band camp in Pennsylvania, tumbled down a 50-foot embankment on Interstate 84 in rural Orange County.
Band practice resumed about a week after the crash, Defendini said, and the band performed at the Newsday Marching Band Festival and homecoming earlier this month.
The superintendent said the school’s goal is to provide “as typical a type of school environment as possible” for students and continue to support those who struggle.
“As we get into concert season and all of those moments where we would celebrate and be together, we're still going to celebrate, we're still going to be together, and we're going to provide the support that we need to make sure that kids are able to continue to experience that and staff continues to have the support that they need,” he said.
Cordelia Anthony, a Farmingdale High School science teacher, echoed the superintendent’s sentiments of creating an as-normal-as-could-be environment, though that normalcy may not be the same to everyone.
“It's such a shock, such a trauma, that it's a matter of ‘Can we actually get back to what we were supposed to be doing in a regular school year?’” she said. “I don't think that's completely possible but we're going to try to get as close to it as possible.”
Anthony, president of Farmingdale Federation of Teachers, noted educators are sensitive to the reality that the crash may have longtime impacts on students. They are paying close attention to their emotional well-being.
“We'll be definitely monitoring them and keeping an eye on them, whether they were on that bus or one of the other buses or if they're a sibling of one of the injured students, or friends [of those students],” she said.
Defendini said the district has not made plans to fill Pellettiere’s position. So far, staff members have stepped in to cover her classes.
“We'll revisit that a little bit later in the year,” he said. “We're certainly not in a place where we're … looking to replace Ms. P at any point right now. Now our focus is just keeping things nice and consistent with the staff that's currently in the building.”
With Robert Brodsky
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.