Students at Badger question spate of tragedies
LAKE GENEVA — It’s been a tough 12 months for the students and staff at Badger High School.
Five car accidents have claimed the lives of three students, injured 23 more, might result in homicide charges against one and have left a community wondering why.
“Nothing’s related,” Principal Steve McNeal said of the accidents. “It’s just bad luck.”
But the students and staff at Badger are holding up, even in the wake of the latest car crash to affect the school.
Junior Krystal A. Hart, 16, faces a potential charge of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle after a head-on crash that killed a 54-year-old Delavan man Nov. 3.
“I think the student reaction is yet to come on that one,” McNeal said.
He said the students are talking—wondering especially “how much trouble (Hart) is going to get into”—but the school won’t speculate on details.
“It’s not our business,” McNeal said. “That’s not what we’re here for.
“Let them read it in the paper. They don’t need to hear it from somebody here.”
Rather, the school’s role is one of support, he said, for students involved in or affected by an incident and for students who just want to better understand.
Reaction to tragedy takes precedence.
“Everything is dropped,” guidance counselor Tom Leahy said. “Everything we had planned for the day, the week, is put aside. Whenever we lose someone or have a tragedy, that comes to the forefront.”
But the school assumes its role quietly—no announcement, no all-school assembly, just a calm offering of support for those who need it.
Senior Maggie Schmidt, 17, said that approach only fuels the rumor mill. Once the facts are available, she said, the students should be informed.
“Just tell us—not piece-by-piece—flat out,” Schmidt said.
“We’re old enough to accept it,” 18-year-old senior Max Mandich said.
McNeal said the school doesn’t want to place undue burden on staff in times of crisis, which is why they are asked to stick only to the most pertinent facts. Leahy said he doesn’t feel comfortable being a go-to person for the details about an incident.
“It’s not my position,” he said. “My position is to work with the soul and heart of a kid.”
But students continue to question, McNeal said. They want to know why accidents keep happening.
“There’s no answer to that,” he said. “We know things cycle, and we’re in a really bad cycle right now.”
Schmidt said the friendships at Badger have grown closer in light of what’s happened the last 12 months.
“We’re not taking things for granted,” she said.
Although tragedy has the potential to bring people down, Mandich said morale has gone up.
“We’re sticking together,” he said, “not breaking apart.”
ANATOMY OF A CRISIS
-- Principal Steve McNeal is notified a Badger student has been killed in a car accident.
-- McNeal meets with the school’s police liaison or another official to obtain information about the accident.
-- McNeal assembles the school’s crisis team, which includes the principal, psychologist, social worker, guidance counselors, police liaison and others (e.g. teachers or clergy) depending on the situation. The team learns the facts about the accident.
-- The crisis team determines who is affected by the accident and how best to inform staff.
-- The team meets face-to-face with the student’s family and close friends to determine what the school can do to help. It then meets with the student’s teachers and other friends.
-- Counselors from the school or an outside agency gather to offer support to those students and staff.
-- The school contacts parents of grieving students to alert them of the tragedy. Parents often choose to pick up their children from school that day.
-- A counseling center is set up for any other students or staff.
-- The crisis team meets again at the end of the day to evaluate its response and make plans for the next day.
-- An announcement is made the next day regarding the tragedy. A moment of silence is observed. Students are made aware of counseling resources.
ACCIDENT TIMELINE
Nov. 3, 2007: 16-year-old Badger High School junior Krystal A. Hart faces a potential charge of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle after a head-on collision that killed 54-year-old Everardo Chimal Lopez around 2:45 a.m. on County H in Geneva Township.
Oct. 12, 2007: Nine Badger High School junior varsity soccer players are injured in a school bus-sport utility vehicle accident around 6:30 p.m. on Highway 120 in Lyons Township. The driver and passenger in the SUV are killed.
June 21, 2007: 17-year-old Badger High School junior Ross A. Kolb is killed in a car-truck accident around 3:15 p.m. on Westside Road in Linn Township. Three other Badger students are involved in the accident, but not seriously injured.
April 26, 2007: Two 17-year-old Badger High School students, sophomore Brent Michael Konecny and junior Monica Murphy, are killed on their way to school when their vehicle collides with a dump truck around 7:15 a.m. at Highway 120 and County H in Bloomfield Township.
Dec. 7, 2006: 14 students from Badger High School and Lake Geneva Middle School and a bus driver are injured in a chain-reaction accident involving two school buses and an SUV around 3 p.m. on Broad Street in Lake Geneva.
Dec 13, 2007 at 6:41 p.m.
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Please just stop..seriously I can't take anymore of this. And if you don't know who I am, I'm Ross' Girlfriend, happy?..but just stop.
Nov 13, 2007 at 11:54 p.m.
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jeez this school has suffered alot. all ihave to say is i cant believe it was krystal. its weird to know someone who has done something liek that. i feel bad for her, but dont get me wrong i have the greatest sympathy for the lopez family and freinds. but this is going to effect her life forever. To me this is just crazy. she was soo close to alot of the people i hang out with. and everyones going through a hard time trying to realize what has happened. i pray her and the lopez family. hopefully everything turns out okay. 15 years for a 16 year old girl is ridiculous.. sorry to say it. but im 16. i could NOT imagine that. thats like double her life. i would rather die. as bad as that is to say. i feel so bad for her. even though we werent on the best terms when i saw her last. i still have sympathy for her.
Nov 12, 2007 at 3:51 p.m.
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You're absolutely right, Badger should have handled this all better. Here's hoping that they don't need to handle something like this again.
Nov 12, 2007 at 2:24 p.m.
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Then your son is in the same class as mine. And you probably know who I am since I said my son was with Ross when he died. I am saying that Badger does a poor job dealing with tragedies and that is what the article is about. Maybe they have changed how they do things in the lite of our situation but I doubt it. They dropped the ball and I did recieve an apology from Dr. Gottinger about it. When Monica and Brent were killed my son called me twice that day. I asked him if anything was going on at Badger. The first time he said no not that he knew about. The second call he said he heard rumors and wanted to know what happened. I told him I could not say anything until Badger made a formal anouncement. When I picked him up after school he said "It was Monica Murphy wasn't it" I told him yes. The next morning an anouncement was made for a moment of silence for the 2 students that died the day before. Their names still were not said. By that time everyone knew who it was. Badger could have said their names. They were real people with real families and friends. My son knew of her and I made him go to her visitation (I went with him). I thought it was important for him to see what not paying attention behind the wheel can lead to. And to show respect for her family and friends. Like I said they were not friends but some of her friends came to him and thanked him for coming.
Nov 12, 2007 at 1:17 p.m.
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Jazz1,
As I said, I meant no disrespect to anyone.
I wasn't commenting as to what the families of the Badger student drivers should have done. My remarks were meant to suggest that other should parents should try to make something good come of these tragedies and use them as teaching opportunities for their own children.
I have two sons at Badger, one of whom is in the same class as Ross Kolb and Monica Murphy. We might have all done stupid things behind the wheel, but that doesn't make it right, and perhaps we can help prevent our kids from doing the same things.
Nov 12, 2007 at 12:56 p.m.
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The paper does not always print the whole story. After the investigation was done it was proven that they were not drag racing. The other driver was passing Ross and Ross cut him off. Yes, they were screwing around but how many of us have done something stupid behind the wheel? I know that us and the other three families have talked to our children about driving and responsibilities behind the wheel. We can not be with our children 24/7 and we do have to trust that they will make the right choices. Before you make comments about what we should do as parents I hope you know each family. The article was about how Badger handles tragdies and I know for a fact that is not true.
Nov 12, 2007 at 11:04 a.m.
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I mean no disrespect to anyone when I say this:
Clearly this should be an everyday conversation, but every one of these tragedies -- especially the incidents involving Badger students as drivers -- should cause parents to again remind their children about the responsibilities and dangers of driving. According to the newspaper reports, the students who were driving were each doing something they should not have done. Driving the wrong way on a two lane road next to a friend in another car in the other lane, attempting to beat a dump truck through an intersection, and, clearly the worst of all, drunk and drugged driving, all can have demonstrably deadly consequences. While some of the behaviors can be attributed to youth and inexperience, the results all were the same; someone died.
Please continually remind your children to obey the laws and all driving-safety rules.
Nov 12, 2007 at 10:21 a.m.
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JAZZ 1 ( VERY WELL SAID ). I don't think anyone should beat around the bush. (Tell them straight out) The biggest problem for Badger is rumors. Half of these rumors about people wouldn't start if the kids were made aware of incidents!
Nov 12, 2007 at 7:56 a.m.
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My son was in the accident that took the life of Ross Kolb. None of these services were offered to the four families involved until 3 weeks after the accident. There were various reasons from it was summer to we were out of town. The only people that made any attempt were Ralph Braden and Will Harris. The night of Ross's visitation we had our home open to any Badger student (we live down the street from the funeral home). I stayed at the funeral home for any student who needed an adult. My husband and children went back to our home at one point we had over 70 students and parents at our house. The most asked question was where was the crisis team? My answer to them was "It's summer time". I don't know how many people thanked us for being there for their children because Badger was not. The reason we did it might be selfish but it helped us in our healing process. It will take our family a long time to heal. Ross and my son have been friends since they were little guy's. We are also friends with Ross's parents and for us it was like losing one of our own. I hope to God no other Badger family has to deal with Badger in a situation like this. I agree with Magie and Max's coments be up front and tell the facts. Badger's doesn't think it is up to them to say anything but kids spend a majority of there time in school that is where they are looking for support and answers.
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