In June, 16-year-old Jean Fritz Pierre drowned on a school field trip. His father, Jonas Pierre, is struggling to cope with the tragedy because Prospect Heights' International High School continues to call and inquire about his truancy. No, seriously.
Pierre drowned while swimming in Hessian Lake at Bear Mountain State Park; the area, also known as "Bloody Lake," is banned to swimmers. The students were warned against swimming in Hessian Lake, but when they tried to summon Pierre and his friend, Pierre was pulled beneath the water. Officials retrieved his body less than an hour later.
Jonas Pierre, who has fielded routine calls about his son's absence from school since late June, expressed his grief to the New York Daily News. "I think, why are you calling, why are you telling me this? Don't you know my son is dead?"
According to Mayor Bloomberg, this egregious mistake is the result of there being "a million, one hundred thousands kids, or something like that" in the school system. The Department of Education says it has checked all of its data systems to make sure the family does not receive any additional calls.
[via Gawker and New York Daily News]
