City student drowns while on field trip

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A 17-year-old Baltimore high school student drowned Wednesday during a Wilderness Expedition in Seneca Falls, W.Va.

Kenneth Jones was a 10th-grade student at Independence School Local No. 1, a small, innovative high school program designed to connect the school experience to the community and to life experiences.

Charlene Boston, interim chief executive officer of the Baltimore City Public System, announced the teen’s death in a news release Thursday, saying she “regretfully acknowledges the passing of our student.”

Jones, the school system’s written statement said, was one of eight students and three adults participating in a weeklong backpacking trip where students hike, learn primitive survival skills, create environmental art and identify plants, rocks and other items in the wilderness, while earning high school credits.

West Virginia State Police Trooper A.D. Teter said the drowning occurred at approximately 5 p.m. Wednesday after a 911 dispatcher received a call from a satellite telephone, about a 17-year-old male who had fallen into the water and not resurfaced.

The drowning occurred along the Seneca Trail in eastern West Virginia, more than 200 miles from Baltimore and approximately seven miles from any road in Monongahelia National Forest.

Teter said because of the remote location of the accident, an extensive amount of time passed before the dive team reached Seneca Creek.

The youth was found 10 feet underwater, under the strong current of a waterfall, and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The school system said it is cooperating fully with the police investigation into the incident and asked that residents keep Jones’ family and the students, faculty and staff of Independence School Local No. 1 in their thoughts and prayers.

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com

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