Four Aquebogue Elementary staffers honored for helping injured student

When teacher Paula Almonte heard that one of her fourth-graders was seriously injured during a recess football game at Aquebogue Elementary School, she hurried to his side and held his hand to keep him calm.

Her quick thinking — along with that of school nurse Dawn Carrera, security guard Tarrence Laird and school resource officer Kaley Castantine — helped ensure the boy got the care he needed.

The four staff members were honored by the Riverhead Board of Education at its Oct. 23 meeting for their response to the emergency during the two-hand touch football game. The unidentified boy’s injury was not revealed.

“In those moments, you see real heroism and people doing great work for our kids and really care for our children. And, you know, I received notification that there was a situation in Aquebogue, and it was handled as they were telling me about it. It was already done,” said superintendent Bob Hagan at the BOE meeting. “But in the end, what I can say is that we are just so proud to have great people working here in this district.”

Ms. Almonte, of Medford, said she was at lunch when the incident occurred as she described what unfolded that day in an interview with the Riverhead News Review.

Something felt off, and the cafeteria was unusually quiet, she recalled.

“Immediately one of my colleagues walked in and said, ‘Hey, did you hear what happened with your student?’ And I said, ‘No,'” Ms. Almonte said.

Ms. Almonte walked out to where her class was at recess and saw the ambulance. Next, she saw the student’s mom was with him, and the first responders were already helping him. She asked if she could go to the student.

“I didn’t know the extent of the injury, and I didn’t know if they would allow me to, but they said yes,” said Ms. Almonte. 

After hugging the boy’s mom, she knelt down next to the injured student as the paramedics worked on stabilzing the injury. 

“I didn’t look at the injury because I knew that if I actually knew what was wrong with him, that I was going to sort of demonstrate that on my face. I didn’t think I’d be capable of holding it together for him if I was concerned about what was going on there,” Ms. Almonte said. “But he had a large team already kind of working on that, thankfully. So I wasn’t so worried about the physical injury at that moment.”

Paramedics initially discussed transporting the student by medevac helicopter, but ultimately took him to the hospital by ambulance, where he received treatment.

The boy is already back in school and has even begun making short trips without his crutches, Ms. Almonte said.

While Ms. Almonte helped the injured student stay calm, she also had a classroom of other students to worry about.

When it came time to go back inside, she helped them cope with what some of them witnessed. They also made cards for him and talked through what had happened.

“I was kind of checking in on them and there was tears and you know, we were talking about how he’s in the best hands, he’s exactly where he needs to be, for whatever the case is,” Ms. Almonte said.