Calabasas : Students Try to Help Victims’ Classmates

Saddened by the freak trash truck accident that killed two schoolchildren last week, students at Indian Hills High School in Calabasas organized a collection to help the victims’ classmates.

The students collected $500 in food, clothing and toys, said Martin Ableser, principal of Indian Hills. Last week, Ableser delivered the donations to Glen Alta Elementary School in Lincoln Heights, where the two children were third-graders.

“They identified with the kids,” said Ableser. “They were shocked by the way the kids died.”

The donations came from students at Indian Hills, Bay Laurel Elementary School in Calabasas and Willow Elementary School, Sumac Elementary School and Yerba Buena Elementary School, all in Agoura Hills, Ableser said. Administrators and other employees of the Las Virgenes Unified School District also pitched in, he said.

Francisco Mata and Brian Serrano, both 8, were killed when the hydraulic trash compacting system in a garbage truck malfunctioned and a 12-foot piston struck the school bus in which they were riding.

Ableser said he was not surprised by the outpouring of concern by students at Indian Hills, a continuation school. “These kids are much more empathetic to other people with problems,” he said.