SUMNER – A 16-year-old girl from Sumner died Wednesday after the vehicle she was driving to class at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School collided head-on with a SAD 39 bus on Bonney Road.

Amy Cerrato died at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston of head trauma hours after the 7:45 a.m. crash, according to Sue Bryant of Sumner. She said she and her husband, David, had adopted Amy as their granddaughter.

“It was because we lost our grandson Mike McCollister two years ago,” she said, and he had been close friends with Amy and her twin brothers, Andy and A.J.

Mike McCollister died in a car crash in August 2004.

“She was a beautiful young lady,” Bryant said Wednesday night. “She loved sports, mudding with a four-wheeler, she loved horses. She was vibrant and full of life.”

Amy was the daughter of Chris and Tammy Cerrato of Bonney Road, Sue Bryant said.

“It’s a horrible situation. The district is devastated,” said a tearful school Superintendent Richard Colpitts just moments after speaking with Amy’s parents in the early afternoon. “She was a great student. These are very sad times.”

Of the 31 students on the bus, six ages 7 to 11 were taken to CMMC for treatment of minor injuries, then released, Colpitts said. The students’ names were not released due to confidentiality rules, he said.

Colpitts said district personnel were at the accident scene quickly trying to calm children and helping them move from the damaged bus out the rear door and into another bus. He said children were complaining of back and knee pain, as well as headaches.

“It was not an easy scene,” Colpitts said, because of the narrow road and the number of rescue vehicles. The children also were in view of the rescue efforts to get Cerrato out of the SUV, he said.

The bus, which had been heading to Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Sumner, was driven by Merriel Perry, 63, of Sumner. She was “shaken” and taken by family members to a local hospital as a precaution, the superintendent said. Her husband, Robert, later said she had some bruises but was doing OK.

Merriel Perry is a longtime driver with the district and has a clean driving record, according to Colpitts. She was wearing a seat belt when the accident occurred.

In the afternoon, she rode her regular afternoon run, with another driver at the wheel, to assure the students that everything was all right, said Colpitts. He commended her actions. “She was setting a model for the kids,” he said.

Maine State Police Trooper Corey Smith said the sport utility vehicle Cerrato was driving crossed the center line on Bonney Road, which is off Route 140, and struck the bus nearly head-on. The impact pushed the bus off its frame a foot.

Sue Bryant said Amy was headed south on the road and the bus was headed north.

State police said the cause of the crash remains under investigation, but weather was not expected to be a factor because it had barely started to snow at the time of the crash.

Cerrato received her driver’s license Jan. 24. She had no accidents until Wednesday and no driving convictions, according to state records.

Students at the high school were informed of the accident shortly after 8 a.m. by their teachers. Just before noon, the students were told the situation looked grave for the popular sophomore student.

“They were informed of her condition and the likelihood of her death,” Colpitts said.

Parents were kept informed of the situation through the school’s “instant alert” system, which within 15 minutes had made calls to all parents in the 600-student district.

Counselors from SAD 39 and SAD 52 in Turner were immediately on hand to talk to students. They remained throughout the day and early evening and are expected to be available again today.

The elementary school social worker, principal and central office staff were also available at Hartford-Sumner school to speak to students and parents.

Colpitts said Cerrato has twin brothers who graduated from Buckfield Junior-Senior High School two years ago. He said she was involved in school activities and “was a popular kid.”

The news comes on the heels of another tragedy for the district. Retired Hartford-Sumner school fourth-grade teacher Sherry Woodcock, 60, of Leeds died Monday at CMMC. She had been on medical leave, Colpitts said, and retired in late January when she decided she could not return to teaching. The district is scheduled to have a half-day on Friday to allow staff and students to mourn her death.

Now, Colpitts said, officials will have to decide how to handle this latest tragedy.