PLEASANTON, Texas – The grandparent of a Pleasanton Independent School District student is pushing for a district school bus driver to be fired.
The hopes for his termination come after Rebecca Ybarra said a video she was sent showed the driver aggressively interacting with her student.
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Ybarra is six-year-old Edward’s grandmother and legal guardian. Like many students, Edward takes the school bus to and from Pleasanton Elementary School.
A video, taken by another student whose aunt provided KSAT with consent to use, shows an adult picking Edward up and putting him back in the seat more than once on Aug. 20. The child who recorded the video told his aunt that he started recording after the driver hit Edward.
According to Ybarra, the adult in the video is Edward’s primary bus driver. KSAT spoke with Edward briefly so he could describe what happened.
“He grabbed me and picked me up,” Edward told KSAT.
KSAT also asked Edward how the incident made him feel.
“Uncomfortable,” Edward said.
“My concern is, if he did this to my child, would he do it to the next child?” Ybarra told KSAT.
Edward said the incident started with one child hitting him with a backpack followed by Edward hitting the child with a backpack. That’s when things escalated to the point shown in the video.
Ybarra contacted the school district and met with Pleasanton ISD assistant superintendent Anthony Kosub in hopes of holding the driver accountable.
“I don’t need an apology from him,” Ybarra said. “I just need him to not be around children.”
“We are aware, and we are investigating and addressing the situation,” Kosub told KSAT during a phone call.
Kobus also said the district does not “comment on personnel matters.”
“I’ve had parents messaging me through the whole evening, telling me that it’s not the first time that he handles a child like that,” Ybarra said. “Last year, we had the same issues with the same bus driver, but according to the school, nobody ever addressed it. ‘Well, I addressed it today because your hands went on my child.’”
As of Wednesday, Ybarra said she is awaiting an update on the school district’s investigation.
“It was just a hard situation to deal with,” Ybarra said. “It was very upsetting.”