Aquebogue Elementary School staffers honored for quick action to aid injured student

Four Riverhead Central School District staff members were honored last week by the Board of Education for their response to an emergency situation at Aquebogue Elementary School.

A student was injured during a tag football game at recess last week,  Aquebogue Elementary School Principal Bryan Miltenberg told the board during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We saw just an awesome display of care and teamwork at our school, and these staff members definitely deserve to be recognized,” Miltenberg said. 

“Our fourth-grade two-hand touch football games can get pretty intense, but usually just end with smiles and laughter,” he said. “But in this situation, it became serious when we saw that a student was very significantly injured.”

School Nurse Dawn Carrera, security guard Tarrence Laird, fourth-grade teacher Paula Almonte, and school resource officer Kaley Castantine responded immediately, Miltenberg said.

“These staff members came together so quickly and with so much care for this student. It was absolutely incredible,” the principal said. “They stuck with him all the way from that first moment up until days later, getting all the updates, sharing the updates with us, and I’m really happy to say that the student’s doing really well,” Miltenberg said. 

“He was back in school this week, actually, which was incredible, far better than we could have anticipated in that moment,” he said. 

Superintendent Bob Hagen commended all involved. “You know, 95% of the time school runs the buses roll in, and we educate, and then the buses come pick them up and go home. But there are other times where everybody has to come together. And in those moments, you see real heroism,” Hagen said.

The staff members’ “quick thinking and steady presence made all the difference in a frightening situation,” he said.