Riverhead school staffers honored for helping injured student

Four employees at a Riverhead elementary school were recently recognized for their efforts helping a student injured during recess.

The staff members — fourth-grade teacher Paula Almonte, school nurse Dawn Carrera, school resource officer Kaley Castantine and security guard Tarrence Laird — collectively sprang into action when a fourth grader suffered an injury to his leg during a football game at Aquebogue Elementary School on Oct. 14.

The boy, 9-year-old Maxwell Drozd, dove to catch the ball on the school’s playground when he slid across a metal grate and tore open the flesh just below his right knee down to the bone, according to his family.

The group of staffers was honored for their “heroic and effective response to an emergency situation” during the Riverhead Central School District’s Board of Education meeting in October.

“They were all amazing,” said Maxwell’s mother, Melanie Dinizio. “Every single one of them sat on the ground with him and kept him calm just like he was their own. They just care, and you can tell they care.”

The first of the school’s staff members to reach Maxwell was Laird, the security guard, who witnessed the injury and immediately radioed into the building to summon others to the scene. Then came Carrera and Castantine, who helped tend to the student, notify administrators and coordinate for the arrival of emergency personnel, according to Dinizio.

Almonte was informed shortly thereafter and came outside to comfort the boy without looking at the actual injury, she said.

“I knew if I looked at it my attention would be there,” Almonte said of the student’s leg. “My only thought was to keep him calm and not panicked. What I perceived to be my job in that moment was just to make sure he had someone’s hand to hold.”

Maxwell was taken by ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he received “dozens of stitches,” his mother said. To lift his spirits, his classmates sent get-well cards and created video messages for him during his absence from school, according to Almonte.

Aquebogue Principal Bryan Miltenberg praised the four employees for their “teamwork and professionalism,” which he said “exemplifies the care and dedication” of the school’s staff.

“Their quick thinking and steady presence made all the difference in a frightening situation,” Miltenberg said in a statement.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.