One of the Stuyvesant High School students seriously injured in last Saturday's Vermont van crash has returned home to New York. Junior Lucia Hsiao, a member of the girls' junior varsity track team, had suffered serious neck injuries but was able to "gingerly walk" to her room on her own. The Staten Island resident is wearing a halo around her head and will require a lot of rehab, but her dad said, "It could have been worse. She's done with the first step of recovery."
The team's trip to participate in the Dartmouth relays is drawing a lot of attention from the Department of Education. The team's coach, Erin Taylor, could face termination. Even though parents gave Taylor permission, the trip was not approved by Stuyvesant or Health Professions and Human Services High School (a total of 10 students were in the van, 8 from Stuy, 2 from HPHSHS). Taylor had been driving the passenger van when it swerved into a median on I-91 and rolled over; she fractured three vertebrae. Taylor's father said, "She's devastated... She has always treated these girls as if they were her own."
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein told WCBSTV that Taylor might not necessarily lose her job, "This matter is obviously under investigation. This is, obviously, a tragedy. I mean to have one of your kids in an automobile accident is a real tragedy." The most seriously injured student was Valerie Piro, also a junior. She is currently paralyzed, but her parents hope that she'll be able to walk once the swelling goes down. Piro remains at a hospital in New Hampshire.
The students were in a passenger van, which don't have very good safety records.
