Grade 3 student accidentally choked by his lanyard

A Grade 3 student from Bearspaw School is in stable but critical condition after he wasaccidentallychoked Wednesdayat the school.

The boy was found by another student unconscious in a washroom at noon. His lanyard had been caught on the washroom cubicle door.

CPR was given by a staff member, who was certified as a first-aid instructor.The studentwasrushed to the Alberta Childrens Hospital from the school, which is just northwest of Calgary, andimmediately placed in intensive care.

"This appears at this time to be a tragic, tragic accident," said Cpl. Darrin Turnbull of the Cochrane RCMP.

Rocky View Schools district superintendent GregBass said roughly four minutes had elapsed from the time the boy left class until when he was found.

"Our entire organization is very shocked and almost in a state of disbelief and our thoughts and prayers are with the student and the family at this time," he said."I am very appreciative of the very quick and professional response of staff members atBearspaw School."

Bass said staff and students are shocked and in a state of disbelief.

"We have to continue to obviously hope for this student to make a recovery, that's where our greatest efforts and energy are focused at this time," he said.

Schoolhas stopped the use of lanyards

RCMP said Friday that their preliminary investigations shows no foul play.

The school board did not say what type of lanyard the boy was wearing, but the school has stopped using them. Alberta's Education Minister Jeff Johnson saiddirections have been sent out toall schools boardsto stop using laynards until further notice.

"Obviously we would never want anything like this to occur in the first place, nor occur again, so we are doing that analysis as we speak and we'll see what comes of that," said Bass.

On Friday morning, a parent said the schools Christmas concert the night before was very emotional.

"First and foremost, we all pray for the little guy and the community as a whole, and try to help all the other kids deal with it as well," said area MLA Bruce McAllister.

"I don't think anybody could have predicted what happened on Wednesday and they will learn from itI know that. They will do the right thing going forward."

Bass sent out a letter to parents Friday, which is published in full below.