Counseling available to students

BONNE TERRE — Counseling will be made available to North County High School students following the death of senior, Mallory Hicks.

Superintendent Dr. Yancy Poorman said counselors from every building, as well as other counselors, will be brought in for the district’s first day back in session. He said they did the same thing when two teachers died earlier in the school year.

Poorman said they will do everything possible to help the students and staff deal with Hicks’ death. He said it is extremely traumatic.

Hicks’ mother had been a teacher at North County and was teaching at Central this year, he said.

Hicks, 18, was one of the students who started the Whistle Alert Safety Program (W.A.S.P.) at North County for students from kindergarten to sixth grade. She had also played volleyball for North County. She worked at North County Educational Center in Bonne Terre.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, she was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred at about 6 p.m. Monday.

Reports indicate she was driving a 2001 Plymouth Neon south on Hillsboro near Route K outside Bonne Terre when she lost control of the car on the ice-covered roadway. The vehicle slid off the road and the car struck a tree and overturned.

Hicks was reportedly wearing a seat belt.