A School District Mourns Jesse Carbonaro, 16

For a moment the gasps of shock and the tears of sadness stopped, and there was a moment of silence.

Toms River High School North began the school day Tuesday remembering the 16-year-old sophomore who died crossing Route 70 Monday evening.

A moment of silence was observed at the high school, said Ashley Kotran, High School North senior and the student representative to the school board. The school board that evening would lead the audience in observing a moment of silence there, in memory of Carbonaro.

Carbonaro died while crossing Route 70 at 8:15 p.m. Monday, police said, after being struck by a sports utility vehicle traveling westbound on the highway near Whitesville Road. The driver was identified as 37-year-old Laconda Coleman of Lakehurst, who was driving a 1997 Chevy Tahoe westbound. An investigation is ongoing.

On Tuesday, his friends, classmates and district administrators were reflecting on the Mariner sophomore who would never again be joining them in Spanish class, on the gym basketball court or smiling down hallways.

Carbonaro was described as a caring, funny young man who enjoyed football and playing sports with friends and who could make class enjoyable, according to a Facebook page dedicated to the teen. It climbed to more than a thousand supporters, with about a hundred posts offering condolences and sharing memories of neighborhood kickball games, school cafeteria jokes and a face that seemed to always bear a smile. Carbonaro was a tremendous New York Jets fan, and someone who you could come to when you were feeling down for understanding and acceptance, those that knew him wrote.

"Today he was described as a great kid with an engaging smile, talented in art, and hopeful that the NFL would settle their issues and play this fall," said school board President Linda Garvey before a moment of silence at the Toms River Regional Schools school board meeting at Intermediate North last night.

"Tonight, we remember Jesse, forever a Mariner.”

A Lacey Township High School student, Amanda Lynn Kurinsky, 17, wrote to Patch that the death of her childhood friend was devastating.

“You were such an amazing kid, and you'll still be my childhood best friend at heart,” she said, recalling how she and Carbonaro would swim in their pool and chase after ice cream trucks for Oreo-flavored ice cream. She said he was a “a good kid, with a great heart, such a bubbly personality.”

She recalled Carbonaro as her best friend in childhood, only to grow distant after a move before reconnecting in recent years.

"He was such a great person, warm-hearted, always laughing and smiling, great personality, quite a gentleman, and he was just overall amazing in a bestfriend way," Kurinsky said.

Carbonaro grew up in Lacey’s Forked River section before moving to Crescent Apartments off Route 70 in time for his freshman year at Toms River North.

Kotran, High School North senior and the student representative to the school board, said that while she personally didn’t know Carbonaro a tragedy like this greatly affects the student body.

 “A lot of people are taking it hard, especially the sophomore class, they are very, very upset,” she said.

Tuesday at Toms River North began with a moment of silence and students requesting guidance services, said Kotran. “There are a lot of people going down to guidance, to talk to the counselors,” she said. “We are really working together to support each other.”

Isebella Moraes, High School East’s student representative to the school board, said that often the students come together in moments of tragedy.

“I think the whole district has been going through a lot,” Moraes said. “Through it all, we’ve been handling it, coming through and doing our best, just like those that have passed on would have wanted us to do.”

Toms River Regional Schools spokesperson Tammi Millar said school crisis teams were made available to students today and that "the N.J. Reponse Crisis counselors will be doing neighborhood support," she said.

It’s not the first time this school year the crisis teams were in place for a tragic event.

In early February, the district announced that students stricken with grief from the Pine Beach crash had emergency counseling services available.

fatally crashed their car into the side of Pine Beach Elementary School. In a message sent to parents and guardians and posted on the Toms River Regional Schools’ website homepage for a portion of February, the use of counseling for those affected most by the tragedy.

“If you feel that your child is in need of counseling or emergency services due to the tragedy in Pine Beach, you can contact your individual school's guidance department or your child study team,” the message read. “The school's crisis team is working directly with each school's guidance and child study teams to assist with any student that may need services.”