A lawsuit filed by the parents of 13 elementary school students from McKinney ISD claimed that on February 28, 2023, a Durham School Services bus driver deliberately held up the students by deviating from her usual route and causing them to arrive late at their bus stop.
The defendants in the lawsuit against McKinney Independent School District and Durham School Services L.P. denied all the allegations mentioned in the plaintiff's initial petition.
The lawsuit alleges that McKinney ISD, Durham and the driver were negligent, and accuses them of false imprisonment of the students. The plaintiffs are seeking over $1 million for various damages, including medical expenses for physical and mental injuries, compensation for physical pain and suffering and emotional distress.
According to court documents, the bus driver, identified as Isabel Doe, was assigned to drive route 159, which runs from McClure Elementary School to Creekview Estates, a neighborhood, approximately 1.5 miles east of the school. However, instead of following the designated route, the bus ended up in Allen and eventually came to a stop while traveling south on U.S. Highway 75 near Stacy Road.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Kim Jones Penepacker, stated that two parents were using their children's cell phones to track their location during the incident. Stacy Road is situated around 15 minutes south of the school in clear traffic conditions.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the defendants, MISD and Durham School Services requested "strict proof" of all allegations made by the plaintiffs. In their original answer, filed on April 10, McKinney ISD asserted that defendant Durham has agreed to indemnify MISD for plaintiffs’ damages if any were found.
But Durham School Services’ answer, filed on April 3, 2023, states that the plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part “due to consent,” failure of the plaintiff to “mitigate their damages” and because any alleged damages or injuries suffered were caused by the “acts or omissions of others over which Defendant exercises no control or authority.”
The bus is also believed to have reached “unsafe heat levels” causing heat rashes, hives, vomiting and excessive sweating from the children, the suit alleges.
“The children were additionally traumatized, fearing that they had been kidnapped,” the suit said.
Cody Cunningham, chief communications officer for MISD, said in an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News, that the district investigated these allegations “promptly” after learning of the parents’ concerns, and viewed a video of the entire bus ride from start to finish. Local Profile reached out to McKinney ISD but did not receive a response prior to publishing.
“The video, which cannot be released to the general public due to federal student privacy laws, shows that no students were in danger during the bus ride,” Cunningham said.
