EAST STROUDSBURG -- Monday was the first day of school since a kindergarten student died in a crash over the weekend.
A crisis response plan was in effect at a school in East Stroudsburg. Students and teachers at J.M. Hill Elementary School are trying to deal with the loss of a kindergarten student killed in a crash.
Sophia Willis, 6, died Saturday afternoon when the vehicle she was riding in collided with another.
Now, her friends and teachers are doing their best to carry on.
It looked like a normal day at J.M. Hill Elementary in East Stroudsburg. School buses rolled past and parents took their children to the doors, but this is far from a normal day. It is the first school day since 6-year-old Sophia Willis died in a crash.
According to state police, the vehicle Sophia's mother Rebecca was driving, crossed into the opposite lane of Route 209 near East Stroudsburg and hit another. The drivers were flown to hospitals. Sophia died at the scene.
Fourth grader Matthew knew Sophia. His mother was OK with Matthew talking with us, but she asked we not use his last name.
"She was always kind to people. When she walked up to people, she'd always say, 'hi, how you doing,' and all that nice stuff."
The J.M. Hill principal agrees. Sophia was one of more than 400 students there. She was a standout little girl.
"Full of life, full of energy, happy all the time, smiling all the time and just a beautiful little girl," said J.M. Hill elementary principal Michelle Arnold.
The principal says counselors are there not just for the students, but for the teachers as well. This has been a difficult year at J.M. Hill.
This is not the first time students, faculty, and staff at the school have had to deal with grief. According to the principal, two faculty members passed away earlier this school year.
The superintendent knows this school and this district will weather the series of losses, and the school year ending with the death of a kindergarten student.
"We're together. We're a community. Yes, it brings you together in ways perhaps you prefer not to be," said East Stroudsburg Area School District superintendent Sharon Laverdure.
Counselors are on hand from across the East Stroudsburg Area School District, plus the local intermediate unit. One of those counselors will be a fixture in Sophia's kindergarten class as long as needed.
State police say their investigation isn't over. The county coroner tells us Sophia was in a booster seat, but she was secured only with a lap seat belt. The shoulder strap was behind the child at the time of the deadly crash.