Officials identified the student as 14-year-old Emari Marshall-Woodard after the emergency at High Meadow Day Camp.
GRANBY, CT — A 14-year-old Springfield, Massachusetts, eighth grader died after a drowning during a school field trip Wednesday at High Meadow Day Camp in North Granby, police and school officials said.
Granby police identified the student Thursday as Emari Marshall-Woodard. His death has left Springfield Public Schools in mourning and raised questions about what happened inside the camp pool while several school groups were at the private day camp. Police said the case remains under investigation, though officials said early information pointed to an apparent drowning and no sign of a crime had been reported.
Police said they received a report of a drowning at about 2:27 p.m. Wednesday at High Meadow, 311 North Granby Road. A Simsbury police officer working a private detail at the camp responded to the pool area and began treating the boy before Granby Ambulance took him to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford. High Meadow said the student suffered a medical emergency in the pool and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. “Tragically, we learned that he passed away Wednesday evening,” a High Meadow spokesperson said.
The camp said it had no further details to release and would cooperate with authorities reviewing the incident. Multiple school districts had students at High Meadow on field trips when the emergency unfolded. Students from Wethersfield, Vernon, Bloomfield and Windham were among those reported at the site, along with Springfield students. Police said several juveniles became overwhelmed after witnessing the emergency, and ambulances from Granby, Windsor Locks, Simsbury and Suffield responded to assist at the scene. Authorities have not said how long Marshall-Woodard was in the water, how many students were in the pool or how many lifeguards were on duty.
Some accounts from families described a crowded and chaotic pool area before students were told to get out. A Bloomfield mother, identified in local reports as Abigail, said her eighth grade son told her the boy had been playing with a friend before moving into deeper water. Her son described students hurrying out of the pool while adults and responders tried to help. Another parent said her child described the pool as very crowded. Police Capt. Kurt LaFlamme said Thursday that investigators were still working through the facts and that the death appeared to be a drowning.
Springfield Public Schools said Marshall-Woodard was a student in the district but did not identify his school, citing the family’s privacy. Azell Cavaan, the district’s chief communications officer, said the school community was grieving “the heartbreaking loss of one of our students following a school field trip.” The district said counselors and support staff were being made available to students and staff in the days and weeks ahead. Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said he had spoken with the family and visited the school site to offer support while officials review the cause of the death.
High Meadow is a private day camp and event site in the North Granby section of town. The property has been described by the camp as a 150-acre site with an in-ground pool, athletic fields and other outdoor activities. State and local agencies began looking into the circumstances after the drowning. The State Office of Early Childhood, the state Child Advocate and the Farmington Valley Health District were among the agencies reported to be involved, along with Granby police. The health district was expected to inspect the pool area, including its condition and safety equipment.
The Office of Early Childhood oversees High Meadow when it operates as a summer camp, which was scheduled to begin later in June. Records reported by local media showed prior state violations involving incomplete background checks for some staff in 2024 and 2025, as well as earlier camp-related incidents. Officials have not said whether any past violations had any connection to Wednesday’s drowning. The camp had not answered questions about pool capacity, lifeguard staffing or the number of children in the water at the time of the emergency.
Other school districts whose students were present also addressed the incident with families. Wethersfield school officials said their students were safe and supervised but may have seen emergency responders. Windham Middle School said no Windham students were involved, though some students may have witnessed part of what happened. King Philip Middle School in West Hartford also told families that its eighth graders were at High Meadow that day and that added counseling and clinical staff were made available after a difficult day for students and staff.
By Friday, June 12, the investigation remained active, and no charges had been announced. Officials had not released a final cause or manner of death. The next major steps were expected to include police findings, agency reviews and the health district’s inspection of the pool area.
Author note: Last updated June 12, 2026.