A week after a Carroll Academy bus carrying 25 children went down an embankment on Highway 82, Headmistress Penny Mitchell said students involved in the accident are recovering well, and the rest of the students, faculty and staff at Carroll Academy are “on the way to mending.”
But, it’s a day that they will never forget. It’s a day that many came and jumped into action to help get the 25 students headed home to Greenwood back to safety.
Around 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7 on Highway 82 near Old Greenwood Road, bus driver Jerry King had a medical emergency that sent the bus down an embankment. Mitchell reported to the Greenwood Commonwealth that King was conscious when he was taken by MedStat to a local hospital before being airlifted to the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, where he remains.
Mitchell said King was diagnosed with viral meningitis and continues to improve.
That Wednesday afternoon following the accident, parents of students involved gathered at Providence Baptist Church to collect their children — many seen standing on the muddy hill looking at the bus half buried in kudzu in disbelief.
Mitchell said Carroll Academy had been blessed by the Good Lord, and she’s thankful that it wasn’t worse.
According to reports, Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Ronald Shive said 13 students were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries.
“They have some bumps and bruises, they’re traumatized but I can handle that,” Mitchell said on scene of the accident. She said one of her students, a junior high basketball player, wanted to come to the game and cheer on the Rebels, even though he couldn’t play.
“I told him, ‘Yeah, it would be alright, you can come,’” Mitchell said. “We’re just taking things one day at a time, but we’re going to get through it.”
Mitchell said Thursday, Nov. 7 students and faculty met for an assembly before school began and had a devotion time. She said students were still shaken up from the incident.
“We prayed, sang worship songs and held a devotion and I think it helped,” she said. “We’re not there, but we’re on our way to mending.”
Mitchell said she thanked everyone who stopped to help get students off the bus and to safety. “We’re thankful for everyone that stopped to help us,” she said. “Things have calmed down, we appreciate them very much.”
