Schools and Student Safety

New Jersey State Police arrested Hernando Garciamorales, 40, of Palisades Park on Saturday in connection with a Jan. 7 incident on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike in which a large rock was thrown through a school bus window, fracturing the skull of a third‑grade girl returning from a field trip. The child, a student at Yeshivat Noam Jewish day school in Paramus, underwent surgery Thursday and is expected to recover, according to Teaneck’s mayor. Authorities say Garciamorales confessed to this attack and several other rock‑throwing incidents in the area and have charged him with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal mischief, resisting arrest by flight, and hindering. He was arrested at a campsite in Old Croaker County Park in Bergen County and is being held at the Bergen County Jail pending a court appearance. Law enforcement told the school there is no evidence the bus attack was bias‑related despite the school’s Jewish affiliation, and the head of school publicly praised the swift, coordinated response by police and local officials.