Waltham Students Witnessed Lexington Street Crash; Schools Reeling

As additional details on the crash emerge, the Waltham Public Schools District is reeling a day after a Kennedy Middle School student was struck by a car.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS (from an interview with Waltham Public Schools Superintendent Susan Nicholson)

• Several Kennedy Middle School students witnessed vehicle strike the victim.
• The victim is an eigth-grader.
• Waltham Police Officer Ann Frassica, the district’s safety liaison, as well as Kennedy Principal John Cawley went to the scene and brought the witnesses back to the school. The students’ parents picked them up.
• The district has not yet determined whether the driver of the vehicle, a 17 year-old man, is a student in the district.
• Also, the victim has at least one relative, a student, in other schools in the district. Citing student privacy rules, Nicholson declined to name the schools because that could reveal the identity of the victim.
• Fifteen students and staff visited the victim at Tufts Medical Center in Boston last night. 

COPING WITH THE CRASH

“The hallways are very, very quiet. There is a very somber atmosphere in the school,” Nicholson said of Kennedy Middle School. 

Counselors from and other support staff are at Kennedy today, helping students cope with the incident, according to Nicholson. The counselors are meeting with students in small groups, she said.

Also, the school is trying to follow its normal schedule for students not significantly impacted by the crash, according to Nicholson. Students who are having difficulty dealing with the incident have been separated from the normal schedule.

“Right now, we are trying to keep the day as normal as possible," Nicholson said.