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(KXAN) — A five-year-old boy died Friday when a bus and concrete truck collided, according to Hays Consolidated Independent School District, which shared his name Monday.
The district identified the child as Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, adding that he loved his family, dinosaurs, the color green, and going to school.
“Ulises was a child who was filled with a lot of happiness and he often shared it with others,” said Naira (Dina) Solís Shears, his pre-K bilingual teacher from Tom Green Elementary. “He had a talent for drawing and his favorite thing to draw was dinosaurs. He could almost completely spell the word dinosaur, which demonstrates how smart he was. He always had a dinosaur drawn on all of the assignments he turned in. He liked to tell stories and shared many with his friends and family. Above all — he was a loving child.”
Montoya was the only one on the bus who died. Austin-Travis County EMS said Friday it checked out a total of 53 people who were hurt, many of them children who were returning from a field trip to the the Capital of Texas Zoo in Bastrop County. The other person who died was an adult in a car driving behind the bus.
On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it appeared the concrete truck veered into the school bus’ lane while they were on State Highway 21 near Caldwell Road. It is still investigating the collision.
Hays CISD canceled classes Monday, however, there will be counseling available for students and staff from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Funeral and memorial services for Montoya are still in the works. There is a GoFundMe set up to help the family with funeral expenses, and another GoFundMe page to help the Tom Green Elementary community.