SEALY, Texas — There are calls for a bus driver with the Sealy Independent School District to be fired and charged after a recent incident involving a bus with no air conditioning.
Coshenna Smith said her 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were on the hot bus during a heat advisory on Aug. 22. The high temperature that day was 103 degrees with a heat index from 108 to 112, according to the National Weather Service.
According to Smith, the driver wouldn't let the children open their windows even though the bus didn't have air conditioning.
"Receiving phone calls from my children saying they can't breathe and they're unable get home is a problem for me," Smith said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Her son has a health issue that can cause seizures in the heat and her daughter has asthma, according to Smith. She said they came home drenched in sweat and her daughter was having trouble breathing.
"This is inhumane," said civil rights activist Dr. Candace Matthews, who shared a video from inside the bus.
"Put the window up, you shouldn't have your hands out the window," the driver said after stopping the bus.
“It’s hot!” a child replied.
“We need AC,” another child yelled.
“It’s hot back here. These children need to breathe. You need to get us home!” a third student pleaded.
“And the punishment went even further where the bus driver decided that what she wanted to do is stop the bus completely," Matthews said.
She said the driver, who had a fan blowing on her, continued to punish the children by going three miles an hour. So, instead of the usual six-minute ride home for Smith's kids, it took more than half an hour.
“This video was very hard to watch and very disturbing," Matthews said. "This bus driver needs to be held accountable. This bus driver needs to go to jail."
When Smith complained, she was told her son caused a disruption when he tried to sit in the front of the bus with his sister.
“She said, ‘No, go to the back of the bus,’” Smith said. “This is not the 1900s.”
According to Smith, Sealy ISD took the driver off that route after complaints from multiple parents but she's still driving for the district.
Matthews said the superintendent initially ignored the parents' complaints until she posted a flyer on Monday announcing they were holding a news conference. She called the response that followed “unacceptable and “piss-poor."
“One thing that we don’t play about in Texas, is we don’t play about our kids," Matthews said.
We reached out to Sealy ISD and Superintendent Bryan Hallmark sent the following statement.
"Last week we received concerns about a lack of air conditioning on our buses. We also received reports that students were not allowed to put their windows down on a bus and that the driver stopped a bus to address a student discipline issue. We take these concerns very seriously. Upon investigating these reports last Thursday, a driver did require a student who was sticking his head out the window to put up his window. The driver stopped the bus for approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds to address the student. During the route the roof hatches and windows were open. Last Friday, administrators made adjustments to the amount of time the bus spends on unpaved roads so our students can arrive home as quickly and safely as possible. It does get hot on the buses, especially in August. Thankfully, we are experiencing cooler temperatures this week."
In Texas, it's against the law to leave children or pets inside hot vehicles with no air conditioning. Experts say heat exhaustion or heat stroke can happen in a short time.