PAXTON, Ill. — A group of students from Paxton Buckley Loda Junior High School, returning from a class trip to Washington, D.C., was involved in a traffic accident on Saturday morning in Maryland, according to school officials.
In a message shared with parents and families, PBL Junior High Principal Josh Didier explained that a Peoria Charter bus carrying students was rear-ended by another bus not affiliated with the school group while traveling through Myersville, Maryland.
School officials reported that five eighth-grade students and one parent chaperone were transported to a local hospital for evaluation.
The bus was part of an educational trip organized by Grand Classroom in collaboration with Peoria Charter. According to the school, another Peoria Charter bus was dispatched to the scene to transport the remaining students and chaperones back to Illinois.
As of Saturday afternoon, all five students and the chaperone had been discharged from the hospital and rejoined the group to continue their trip home, according to an updated post by PBL District on Facebook.
The group is expected to arrive back in Paxton at approximately 1:00 a.m. "Our primary focus remains the safety and well-being of our students and chaperones," Didier said in his statement.
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