Larisa Karassik crash: Schools to counsel students

• Clarkstown schools are preparing to help staff and children deal with a death of one of their own
• Counselors and psychologists have been developing a script to help teachers talk to students%3B after-school activities cancelled
• Larissa Karassik%2C her father and friend were going to the store in Warren%2C NY%2C when crash happened

As classes resume in Clarkstown on Tuesday, counselors and school psychologists will be available to help teachers and students come to grips with the death of one of their own, 13-year-old Larisa Karassik, killed in an upstate car crash on Saturday.

Meanwhile, friends have set up a gofundme site to help the family after the accident north of Cooperstown killed Larisa, injured her father and her best friend and killed the man who drove into the passenger side of their car. By late Tuesday morning, the funding plea for $25,000 had reached nearly $23,000.

There will be a wake at St. Sergius Church in Valley Cottage from 4 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, with a service at 7 p.m. Friends and family will be offered quiet time for reflection and prayer at the church from noon till 7 p.m. Wednesday. The funeral service will be at 10 a.m., Thursday at St. Sergius, with burial to follow at the Russian Orthodox Convent Novo-Diveevo Church Cemetery in Nanuet.

In addition, a memorial service will be held at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday at Clarkstown Reformed Church, 107 Strawtown Road in West Nyack.

All after-school activities scheduled Tuesday at Felix Festa Middle School, including the spring concert, have been canceled.

The gofundme request for donations reads, in part: "Larisa was a beautiful young girl whose smile could light up any room. She was an extraordinary girl who volunteered for her church and she never passed up an opportunity to volunteer for the community of Clarkstown."

Larisa graduated from Strawtown Elementary and was to graduate from Felix Festa Middle School and head to Clarkstown South High School in the fall. The athlete played softball in the New City Little League and basketball for St. Francis CYO. On a Festa-related Facebook page, friends were urged to wear Larisa's favorite color, blue, to school on Tuesday.

When classes resume after the long holiday weekend, the Strawtown and Festa communities will have their first opportunity to begin to process their loss. Larisa's sister, Kira, attends Strawtown, where Principal Martha Ryan sent a note to families on Monday urging the community to "work together to ensure that the family is given the support they need to get through this tragedy."

Ryan's letter continued: "Experiencing or even hearing about a tragic incident may affect a child in a variety of ways; therefore, it is very important that children be given opportunities to ask questions and to talk about their reactions. For some students, a death in the school community may remind them of some other loss in their lives. For other children, this may be their first encounter with death. When reacting to a traumatic event, a child may display a range of different behaviors. It is important that you deal honestly and directly with their questions."

Clarkstown Board of Education President Michael Aglialoro confirmed that Felix Festa Campus Principal Kevin Horan sent a similar letter to Festa parents, advising them that school counselors will be available for teachers and students and urging parents to keep lines of communication open with their children.

The accident took place on Saturday afternoon in Warren, north of Cooperstown.

That's where a driver ran a stop sign and plowed into the car driven by Bruce Karassik, Larisa's father. The Karassiks were taken to Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, where Larisa was pronounced dead and her father underwent treatment for a broken ankle and other injuries. Another passenger in the Karassik's car, Larisa's lifelong friend, 12-year-old Anastasia Khilko, had a broken leg and was transferred to Albany Medical Center. The other driver, Heath Drouin, 42, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Larisa's father was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern on Sunday, and he underwent more surgery on Monday. Friends said he hopes somehow to be well enough to attend his daughter's funeral service on Thursday.

"She was my little Girl Scout," said Diane Spuler, one of the parents behind the gofundme site and Larisa's Girl Scout troop leader. "She took every opporutnity to fund-raise. She knew her civic duty. When they were talking about closing Strawtown, there she was, with a sign."

The Karassiks were spending the long holiday weekend at their farm in Warren and were on the way to the store when the accident happened.

Larisa is survived by her father, her mother, Anastasia and two younger sisters, Alina and Kira.

Anastasia Krassik wept as she thought of the week ahead, which was to include Larissa's eighth-grade dance.

"She was such a wonderful, wonderful child," Anastasia Karassik said. "She volunteered for people. She volunteered at the pantry. She packed clothes for people in the Ukraine. You gave an opportunity to volunteer and she was there."

On Tuesday, Anastasia Karassik said her husband remained in intensive care.

"He's very banged up we're not even sure if he's going to be able to make it to the funeral," she said, her voice overcome with tears. "We're just praying and hoping that he's going to pull through and be able to come."

She said her husband was aware of what had happened and wanted to attend the funeral, adding that she was overwhelmed by the support of the community, including the gofundme donation site.

"My husband lost his job a week before Christmas at a startup Internet marketing company," she said. "He has been laid off due to the company being bought out and this is so unexpected and so amazing that people are doing this for us."

Police said Drouin passed a stop sign at Little Lakes Road and hit the car driven by Karassik on Jordanville Road, police said. Drouin was driving north while Karassik was heading east, police said.

The New York State police collision reconstruction unit is investigating the crash.

Steve Lieberman and Alex Taylor contributed to this report.

Helping children cope with loss

Strawtown Elementary School Principal Martha Ryan sent a note to parents with these suggestions that families may find useful in helping children cope with loss.

• Be a good listener. Listen carefully for any misconceptions or distortions the child may have.

• Provide physical closeness. Spend extra time putting your child to bed. Talk and offer reassurances.

• Encourage children to ask questions and to discuss, write, or draw their feelings.

• Provide play and fun experiences to relieve tensions.