Students scared and parents worried after school bus incident in Belton ISD

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) – The sight of students screaming in fear shocked parents when a bus's routine departure from James L. Burrell Elementary School in Belton ISD was delayed by more than an hour.

According to the parents, the bus driver failed to drop the students off at their homes and only let them off at the last stop when he and other parents intervened.

Troy Teschner, a parent present at the scene, said the bus driver did not want the students to get off the bus.

“He grabbed a girl by the neck, another by the arm, a child fell to the ground and was injured yesterday.”

Teschner said the incident traumatized his children and many students refused to go back to school the next day.

Teschner said of his daughter: “She was in tears and couldn't even go to soccer practice last night because she was so excited. She also had a headache from crying so much.”

Now many parents must adjust their schedules to send their children back to school, like one mother from Belton ISD who wished to remain anonymous.

“She just wanted me to promise not to put her on the bus again this morning. So I told her, 'I promise I have tomorrow off. I'll drop you off and we'll see,'” she said.

Belton ISD issued the following statement following the incident:

We would like to sincerely apologize for the significant delay of the James L. Burrell Elementary bus #31 on August 15, 2024. The driver arrived late to campus and then had difficulty entering student information into the SmartTag, causing the bus to arrive 50 minutes late at the first stop. SmartTag is a digital tracking system that tracks every student on the bus.

We understand how frustrating and stressful this situation must have been for parents and students. The bus was full, which made the situation even worse. Please be assured that we deeply regret any inconvenience this caused and are working hard to ensure that this does not happen again.

In response to the situation, school security was dispatched to the bus stop to ensure peace and security. Families of Bus 31 were notified of the delay during the delay and later that evening via ParentSquare.

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