Middle school mourns 8th-grader's death

EDISON — Students returning from the Presidents Day long holiday will be coping with the death of a classmate on Saturday, the district's second death of the year.

Jasper Dean Boyd, am eighth-grade student at the Herbert Hoover Middle School, died on Saturday according to a GoFundMe page created to help with his funeral arrangements. His death was first reported by the Courier News and Home News Tribune.

Edison school superintendent Bernard Bragen told the Courier News and Home News Tribune that counselors will be at the school to help students and staff cope with the death of the 13-year-old.

Bragen and a spokesman for Edison police did not immediately return messages on Tuesday morning

"This is one of the hardest thing I had to share! Asking for donations to help bury my son! Anything helps and thank you everyone who reached out and came to the hospital and sending their love and prayers," his mother, Christina Boyd, wrote on her Facebook page linking to the GoFundMe page.

"I went through such a bad pregnancy with him that I didn't know if he was alive and I almost lost my life I woke up two days later to a 5lb baby boy whom I loved since the first day I laid eyes on him," Christina Boyd wrote.

It's the second recent death of a young person for the community. Jessica Bencivenga, a 5-year-old student at the Edison Early Learning Center preschool program, died following a fire Jan. 22 at her home on Jill Court. The fire also claimed the life of her grandmother Kathy O'Callaghan.

Jasper's funeral is scheduled for Thursday at the Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Perth Amboy at noon with a viewing from 10 a.m. to noon., according to a Facebook post by relative Deja Boyd.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ