Furr High School reacts to fatal bus crash

FOX26HOUSTON - The death of the 2 students has stunned classmates and staff at Houston ISD's Furr High School.

The 14-year-old girl killed in the early morning school bus crash was a student at Furr, but the 17-year-old student killed attended REACH Charter School, which is a part of the same campus.

The girls were coming to these schools under special circumstances. Principal Bertie Simmons says when she heard about the crash, she knew they were riding in a bus coming from the other side of Houston.

"The first thing I thought of was, oh my God. If this had been their home school this wouldn't have happened," Simmons told reporters standing in the school's driveway.

Simmons says the girls killed in the crash were anxious to graduate and make something of themselves. Coming to Furr high and REACH academy was their chosen stepping stone.

The 14-year-old was enjoying studying Russian. The 17-year-old was working hard to finish the year as a high school graduate.

"One of the things about getting to know the students personally," Simmons said, "is that when you lose one it's like losing one of your own."

The students at the school were told of the crash Tuesday morning, but administrators did not tell them the name of the students involved. Nevertheless, counselors have been at the school all day, and the district says they will be there for as long as they're needed.

Meanwhile, Simmons says she has received calls from all over the country offering condolences and volunteering support.

"It just restores my faith in humankind," she said, "And it lets me know that people do care."

Furr High School is considering ways to honor the girls killed in the crash, but it's too soon to decide. Instead the main concern is to do whatever they can for the grieving families, and the two families who still have children in the hospital.