Farmingdale Students Critically Injured In Bus Crash 'Expected To Recover': Superintendent

FARMINGDALE, NY — All Farmingdale High School marching band students injured in Thursday's Wawayanda bus crash are "expected to recover," Farmingdale Superintendent Paul Defendini wrote in a letter to the community.

Five students were critically injured in the crash, and more than 40 were injured overall, after their bus overturned on Interstate 84 in Orange County just after 1:10 p.m. Thursday, state officials said. The students were headed to their annual band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania.

Two educators were killed in the crash: Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and Beatrice "Bea" Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale. Pellettiere was the high school band director and Ferrari was a retired teacher who chaperoned band camps. Services for Pellettiere and Ferrari were scheduled.

Defendini, other school district administrators, nurses and support staff visited with the families of the children hospitalized after the crash, he said.

"Some of [the students] are still struggling for one reason or another but they are all, at this time, expected to recover," Defendini said. "I know that they appreciate all the well wishes you are sending and we can’t wait to welcome them back to school when they are ready to return."

Defendini said he knows the community is still "struggling to unpack" feelings following the crash. Farmingdale school staff is also struggling, he said.

"There are no words to express the sorrow we are all feeling."

Defendini urged caution to people looking to make donations to some GoFundMe pages or other organizations.

"Sadly, in every tragedy, there are those few who look to take advantage of those who are most
vulnerable," he said. "...Some are real but some are not."

The school district set up a donation service for those who want to support a specific cause.

Anyone looking to make donations may contact Michael Motisi, assistant to the superintendent for business at Farmingdale, at 516-434-5120 or mmotisi@farmingdaleschools.org. His office will be open at 8 a.m. Tuesday. All donations must be accompanied by a letter, stating the donor's name, the amount of the donation, and the intended use of the funds to be dispersed.

"There are no words of consolation to make the pain go away," Defendini said. "I wish that were the case. I don’t have all the answers but I am confident that if we stick together and take care of each other in our Daler way, we will forge a path forward as one community. Daler Strong is not something we say, it is the embodiment of who we are and there is nothing we can’t get done together."