SEALY — Sealy Independent School District (Sealy ISD) has been embroiled in a controversial subject brewing since school started. The district is accused of mistreating students on a particular bus route by making them put up their windows at 103 degrees outside in a bus without air conditioning. A bus driver has been accused of purposely retaliating against students on that bus.
One such accusation is that the driver stopped for 31 minutes to punish children on Aug. 22 after the driver called for the children to put up their windows. The route usually takes only six minutes to complete down a certain road. Another accusation is that it took the driver 30 minutes to drive three miles while the windows were up—another apparent way to punish the kids.
Dr. Candace Matthews of the National Minister of Politics for The New Black Panther Nation, led a press conference on Aug. 30 near Sealy ISD in response to the accusations widely reported on Houston news.
As with all stories, there are two sides. Sealy ISD Superintendent Dr. Bryon Hallmark was aware of the situation and addressed the school bus issue, which he took seriously. Hallmark said the district performed its due diligence to make sure that nobody was neglected or put in jeopardy.
Hallmark says that Sealy ISD runs about 30 buses daily, but only seven of those have air conditioning. The windows were put up because a student stuck his head and arm out the window, creating a safety situation. The driver stopped until the student complied. Onboard cameras showed that the driver stopped for two minutes and 20 seconds, not the 30 minutes reported.
The driver drove slowly down a dirt road, not to punish students for making the route longer but for the washouts and potholes in the road. Hallmark said the windows and door rattle if the bus travels over 15 miles per hour.
Hallmark remarked that this particular bus has four cameras with different angles covering the whole bus. The district watched all the videos, and Hallmark rode that specific route. His comment about the bus driver after the incident was investigated was that he is not opposed to that driver driving a bus route for Sealy ISD.
The driver was found not to be at fault for anything in this situation. It’s all about student safety.
Regarding Dr. Matthews’s appearance, Hallmark stated that he was not enthused about it and didn’t want any disruptions from the educational process. Additionally, Hallmark said she was not getting any of his time or attention.
