Counselors On Hand; Student Hit by Bus in Critical Condition
School counselors are on hand at Lincoln Junior High and Bentonville High School for students and parents dealing with the tragedy of Thursday’s bus crash.
Bentonville High School student, 17-year-old Megan Zandra Davis, is in critical condition after being hit by a school bus.
Twenty-four students were onboard the bus during the accident; 19 students were from Lincoln Junior High School and the other five were from Bentonville High School.
“We got a list of those students,” said Lincoln Junior High School Principal, Jonathon Guthrie. “I talked with our counselor last night and we came up with a plan and we contacted all of those parents this morning of all of the students that were involved in the accident.”
The 17-year-old girl remains in a Springfield, Mo., hospital in critical condition.The driver has been suspended with pay while administrators review the facts, said Michael Poore, superintendent.
Poore said the district is also reaching out to students closest to the victim.
“You can`t just say here`s the next 24 hours,” Poore said. “There may be some things that students have staff have to work and deal with over the next week or two weeks. This is a severe accident so we will need to be aware of that and support the kids.”
The collision occurred near the intersection of Southeast 14th Street and P Street at 4:02 p.m., near the Walton Family Medical Center, according to the Bentonville School District.
“Unfortunately, sometimes in life, there are these tragedies that we have to deal with and I`m hoping that we can help a student get through it and then learn from it for the future,” said Guthrie.
Bentonville High let off school at 3:55 p.m.
The Bentonville Police Department closed Highway 102 down to one lane each way while investigating and set up accident reconstruction, police said.
Police said they did not yet fully know whether the bus had struck the student or whether the student was actually run over.
