The Carroll County School System is mourning one of its own this weekend following a fatal single-car accident in Heard County Thursday night.



Roberta Kay Stewart, 42, of Newnan, a first grade teacher at Whitesburg Elementary School, was driving on Highway 34 near Franklin around 8 p.m. when the right tires of her 1988 Jeep Wrangler left the roadway on the north shoulder.



Sgt. First Class James Corbett of the Georgia State Patrol’s Newnan Post said that in an attempt to return to the road, Stewart over-corrected and crossed into the left, eastbound lane. The Jeep rotated and overturned.



According to Gordy Wright, public information officer with the GSP, Stewart was flown to Atlanta Medical Center, where she later died from her injuries. Wright said Stewart was the only occupant of the vehicle and alcohol was not involved.



Elena Schulenburg, coordinator of Partners in Education and public relations for the Carroll County School System, said Friday was a somber day in the school system, and in particular at Whitesburg Elementary.

“We had counselors down there at the school. The teachers met and had a prayer, and Mr. [Scott] Cowart [Carroll County superintendent] talked to them,” she said. “She’s taught just about every grade. The teachers are very supportive of each other down here. It’s a very sad and somber moment right now, but we know that connecting together with one another will pull us through. Community support is what we need.”

Schulenburg said that Stewart was a mother of two and a grandmother of two. Funeral services will be Sunday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. in the chapel of Parrott Funeral Home in Fairburn

Read more: Times-Georgian – Carroll teacher killed in wreck