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Teacher saves student's life at Boston Latin School
By adamg on Sat, 09/14/2013 - 11:56am
Parent Imperfect recounts an incident on Thursday involving a rushed student in a hallway trying to stuff a sandwich down her throat before lunch period ended and the teacher who saved her life when part of the sandwich got stuck in her throat.
When it was clear that their friend was in serious trouble, at least one of the other kids ran to try to get help. The first person she found was Mr. X. We don’t know if Mr. X was teaching a class, preparing in his classroom or just wandering, himself, but he reacted to the message quickly and rushed to the side of Connie’s friend. It's hard to think what would have happened had he decided to first ask the student what she was doing in the hallway. But he reacted like all of us would like to think we'd react, and did what he needed to do to dislodge the sandwich.
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Comments
huh?
" It's hard to think what would have happened had he decided to first ask the student what she was doing in the hallway."
What?
It's not hard to think what would have happened. Within a few seconds he would've figured out she was choking.
God, I'm tired of BLS parents. Their precious little snowflakes apparently can't even ride the busses to school - they have to cart them to/from school in their hulking SUVs lest little Johnny/Suzie have to rough it, and clog all of Avenue Louis Pasteur, blocking crosswalks, double/triple parking, parking in bus stops...every afternoon they turn the road into a parking lot.
Most BLS kids don't get driven to school
They take the bus or trolley (some even take the commuter rail). You should check out the 39 berth at Forest Hills some morning. But speaking as a BLS parent who *has* driven a kid to school from time to time, yes, it gets very crowded along Avenue Louis Pasteur between 7 and 7:30, but, please, the parents are out of there quickly - I'm far more likely to sit in gridlock after I turn onto Huntington than in front of the school.
As to your first point, BLS has this reputation for really stern, take-no-prisoners Paper Chase-type teachers and administrators, whose first reaction on encountering a kid hurrying through the halls would, indeed, be to ask what the hell they're doing (eruditely, of course). That's what the blogger was reacting to. Fortunately for the girl and the friend who went in search of help, most BLS teachers these days are, in fact, human.
BLS teachers
" BLS has this reputation for really stern, take-no-prisoners Paper Chase-type teachers and administrators, whose first reaction on encountering a kid hurrying through the halls would, indeed, be to ask what the hell they're doing (eruditely, of course)."
You are correct Adam. My very first thought upon reading this piece was that if it had been me when I was back at BLS in the very early 70s, the out of touch buffoons they called teachers would have let me die while demanding to know what I was doing in the hall.
Huh?
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. When you've recovered from the fatigue brought on by all the snowflakes in the parking lot, consider how goofy your "huh?" is. The teacher couldn't see the choking child when her friend came up to ask him for help. Luckily, he listened to the child's request and immediately went to help the girl who was choking. I can vouch for the fact that it doesn't always happen that way...even in my house. If he had hesitated even 15 seconds to find out what this kid was doing when s/he shouldn't have been, the outcome could have been different.
if only it were the parking lot....
"When you've recovered from the fatigue brought on by all the snowflakes in the parking lot,"
Parking lot? You mean Avenue Louis Pasteur? Because you and your fellow BLS-stickered parents seem to think that you're allowed to:
-park on a street which is clearly marked "NO STOPPING" on both sides.
-park in the MBTA and LMA shuttle bus stop areas ($100 fine)
-park blocking all three of the crosswalks (ditto)
-double and triple park over the people who are illegally parked in the first place
-park in the school bus area during pickup hours (at one point, Boston Police had an officer who showed up every afternoon and would simply spend the next 30 minutes driving up and down the bus area with his lights flashing, telling parents to get out of the damn bus area. I've watched him get out of his cruiser, tell someone to move-it-or-lose-it, and then right as he's about to get back in the cruiser, have a parent pull into the space the other person left.
ALP clogs up to the gills because 100+ parents show up to pick up their kids instead of using public transit. That affects at least FIVE DIFFERENT MBTA BUS ROUTES and THREE LMA AREA SHUTTLE ROUTES, and the effect ripples clear into rush hour.
I'm not "fatigued", I'm pissed off that you all think that because your kid goes to BLS, you're somehow Boston's "elite", and that you're excused from following the law like everyone else.
PS:LOL at the irony of a hand-wringer obsessed about "seconds counting" excusing all the illegal parking which would block ambulances from getting to the school, and block them from getting to Children's.
You have a lot of rage
About all this. Are you a previously traumatized BLS graduate? Or just an angry Longwood area abutter? My snowflake takes the T every day along with all the T-taking Longwood worker bees.
Our 3 kids went to BLS, and....
...they went to and from school on the bus at least 99.5% of the time. Most of their friends also used public transportation. BLS has almost 2,400 students. So, if 100 or so parents drive their kids to and from school, that leaves 2,200-2,300 who don't.
Uh, what does being Boston's
Uh, what does being Boston's "elite" have to do with it? Do you think only the "elite" in Boston blatantly ignores traffic laws? Hell no, everyone does...
No little raindrop thinks it caused the flood
No, ALP clogs up to the gills because too many people bring cars into a congested space - and not all of those cars are people dropping kids at a school that it can take as much as 1.5 hours to reach via transit.
You really need to suggest appropriate solutions - such as drop off in a different place - or suck it up and deal with living in a city.
Lame troll is lame troll
My daughter is good friends with the girl who choked and also the girl who ran to find adult help. All three of them take the T', as do the vast majority of BLS students.
Driving child to school - it's actually a great parent tool
I've been driving my son to school since he started Kindergarden, and to so do this day (HS Freshman). When kids are young, it gives opportunitiy to help them feel ready for the day and connected to home. As they get older - especially when they become teens - it gives you as the parent some time with your child when they can't escape, and some scheduled time to just talk. It becomes part of your child's day and routine. It also let's a parent see the dynamic at drop off, and get a general sense of the school. If a parent can make this part of school day routines (drop off before work or if a stay-at-home make it part of the morning) and do it consistantly, it's a great tool.
Walking your kid to school
... or taking the T with them achieves the same ends, and you can actually talk to their face and not the rear view mirror while also attempting to drive.
Great way to learn those important walking skills, too, and you get to see cool things like snake molts, empty Robins eggs, etc.
children
do you hate children in general or just smart ones?
choking incident at BLS
I watched in horror as two teachers did everything they could to save the life of this beautiful little girl. Both performed Heimlich for what felt like a very long time. Imagine the desperation the first teacher felt as he worried that he would fail? Imagine the pressure the second one was feeling when he said that he would try it next? I can't begin to describe the anguish of this scene. Neither teacher left the student’s side at any time, and the nurse was summoned not by a teacher, but instead by the kids who had accompanied the student to search for the missing item. Even after the Heimlich maneuver succeeded in clearing the food from her throat, it was quite apparent that CPR was called for (a third teacher remained on a phone with 911 throughout the entire episode, calmly describing for the dispatcher what was happening, receiving instructions as to how to perform life-saving measures, and relaying these instructions to the two other teachers.) By this time, the school nurse had arrived, and was able to begin chest compressions, et cetera. It was about as shocking and traumatic a situation as you could imagine.
I hesitate to share these details here, as I would not want to add to this family’s trauma should they stumble across your blog, but did wish to make clear that these three teachers, the nurse, and the two young people who went to get help did in fact save this child’s life.
All the other comments here
All the other comments here should be deleted. Thanks for the details.
So, the student is going to be OK? Thank goodness there were people around to save her. Good thoughts and prayers for her and her family.