17 people hospitalized in school bus-SUV crash in Little Village

Seventeen people were hospitalized Tuesday after a bus carrying a group of children with special needs collided head-on with an SUV in Little Village.

The bus was headed north on Kedzie Avenue when it crashed into a southbound Subaru Outback about 10:15 a.m. near 31st Street.

The students were headed on a field trip, according to a spokesperson for Sunrise, a bus company hired by Chicago Public Schools, and were coming from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on the Far Southwest Side.

“We don’t have any information on how it happened, but it looked like somebody was moving at a pretty good clip,” a Chicago Fire Department spokesman said at the scene.

The drivers of the bus and the car were taken in serious to critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, officials said.

Ten students, ages 16 to 18, also were hospitalized and were reported in good condition, authorities said. The students were taken to St. Anthony Hospital and Stroger Hospital.

Adults on the bus were also hospitalized and were reportedly in good condition, according to a fire department spokesperson.

Witnesses told authorities the car was moving left of the median line, the spokesperson said.

The driver of the car was ticketed for operating an uninsured vehicle and driving on a revoked license, Chicago police said.

Bill Hook, principal of Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, declined to comment, but in a letter sent to school parents, urged them to check in on their kids.

“If your child voices concerns about the incident, or if you notice any changes in their behavior, please reach out to your child’s teacher or another trusted adult at school,” Hook said. “Our staff will be available to provide support to any student who needs additional services.”

The Mount Greenwood school is the only CPS campus with a farm — a nearly 79-acre one that’s the oldest in Chicago. The school’s 800 students — in addition to taking standard high school classes — help care for cattle, pigs, pygmy goats, alpacas, chickens, turkeys and horses.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times