This afternoon one of our school busses, SGR9, was involved in a serious accident. Unofficial reports indicate that the bus swerved to avoid a deer, and the result was that the bus fell into a ditch. Fourteen of our students were on the bus at the time of the incident, and six were taken by ambulance to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. When I arrived at the scene I found emergency personnel triaging the student injuries. We moved uninjured and mildly injured students onto another bus that was behind the bus involved in the accident in order to keep them out of the weather. Four students were not able to be moved, and were attended to by the EMTs on the roadway, and moved to the ambulances. Before I left school I instructed the office staff to begin contacting parents of the affected students. Every student on the bus was met at the scene by their parent. All students were evaluated by the EMTs, at which time two additional students (other than the four who were being attended to on the roadway) were also deemed necessary to need medical attention at the hospital.

The uninjured students were released to their parents at the scene, and those who were transported to the hospital also had their parents accompanying them. From the scene I went to the hospital, where I met Fr. Trammell and Fr. Kimtis. We checked on each student at the hospital, and all are stable at this time. We will remain in contact with the hospital until all students are released. Fr. Trammell and Fr. Kimtis prayed with the injured students and their parents.

At this time we must be thankful to Almighty God that, though some students were injured, there were no life threatening injuries. Guardian angels were certainly with our students today.

I am also very thankful to the emergency personnel at the scene who were so attentive to our students, to the parents of the uninjured students who assisted those who were injured, to Dr. Parla (Superintendent of the Hamilton Township School District) who came to the scene and offered assistance, and to the St. Gregory the Great Main Office and Maintenance staff who made phone calls and accompanied me to the scene.

Please continue to pray.