Linden Elementary School is pictured above.
The third-grade student who died Tuesday had appeared to be asleep on a school bus, officials said Wednesday.
But other students were unable to awake him at a bus stop on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. The bus driver parked the bus and went back to check on the boy, but she was unable to wake him or get him to respond, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.
She called 911. A dispatcher gave the bus driver instructions to care for the boy until rescuers arrived, Kerley said.
Firefighters responded within two minutes. The bus stop is behind a fire station on Tuskegee Avenue. The boy was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
Kerley said the cause of death is a mystery.
“We don’t know what happened to him,” he said. “They just found him asleep.”
Kerley and Oak Ridge Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said they were not aware of any health issues. The fire chief said the hospital will likely determine the cause of death, which has stunned the community.
It wasn’t clear if and when an autopsy would be conducted. An ORFD report said rescuers provided basic life support, immobilized the boy’s spine, and used an airway bag valve mask.
School officials haven’t identified the boy, who was in cardiac arrest when rescuers arrived Tuesday, the Fire Department report said.
“I do not feel comfortable releasing the child’s name and age out of respect for the family,” Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said Wednesday morning. “Hopefully, we will know more in the days ahead in regard to the reason for this sad death.”
Kerley said eight firefighters responded Tuesday afternoon, including four paramedics, one of whom was a nurse.
The chief said there might have been about a dozen other students on the bus at the time.
A critical incident stress debriefing has been put together for the first responders, including the ambulance crew, police officer, bus driver, and her supervisor, Kerley said.
Grief counselors and Oak Ridge elementary school counselors and school administrators met at Linden Elementary School, which is on the west side of town, this morning. Fillauer said they initially met with school staff and third-grade students, and the kids seemed to be handling it fairly well.
Classes were in session today (Wednesday) and will be again on Monday, after the Thanksgiving weekend, Fillauer said.
Note: This story was last updated at 5:38 p.m.
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