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- People leave items at the on-site memorial at the 610 Loop and Telephone Road. (Photo Credit: Florian Martin)
- Dozens of Teddy bears and balloons make up the on-site memorial site at the 610 Loop and Telephone Road. (Photo Credit: Florian Martin)
- Dozens of Teddy bears and balloons make up the on-site memorial site at the 610 Loop and Telephone Road.
- HISD Trustee Juliet Stipeche talks to reporters outside Furr High School about the bus crash that killed two students. Photo credit: Gail Delaughter/Houston Public Media
It was a tough way to start the day, learning that two of your classmates had been killed in a bus crash on the way to school.
Furr High School senior Oscar Luna says he didn’t know the victims, but the accident affected the entire student body.
“Everybody was kind of gloomy and there wasn’t as much energy as there usually is,” says Luna.
HISD Trustee Juliet Stipeche says Furr has overcome a lot in recent years, improving safety and academics after once being described as a “throwaway” school. The campus is also home to REACH Charter High School, for students at risk of dropping out. Stipeche says it’s like a family.
“This place, this school, these buildings here, it’s really a home for the children and it’s a very tight-knit community,” says Stipeche. “And so it’s a devastating loss for Furr and REACH, but it’s also a devastating loss for HISD and the City of Houston.”
Furr Assistant Principal Karnetta Watts says they’re making counselors available for students affected by the crash, and they’re also planning a memorial.
“The main thing is just to try to keep as much normality as possible and then we let the students have a voice into what our plans might be,” says Watts. “Because it’s not just us, it’s them. They have to learn to deal with it as well.”
One of the students killed was a 14-year-old freshman at Furr. The other was a 17-year-old student at REACH.
