School bus drivers were upset Wednesday to see a transportation supervisor’s employees making campaign buttons – during work hours at a Fort Bend Independent School District bus garage – for their boss’s upcoming race for secretary of the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation.
Late Wednesday morning, the drivers said, they saw employees of Road and Safety Supervisor Sheila Belt making the campaign buttons in the Lake Olympia Transportation Center break room.
The bus drivers, who asked that their names not be published for fear of retribution, said they were upset because they had to go off the time clock to take lunch, while Belt’s employees were being paid to put together the buttons.
Belt is running for secretary of the pupil transportation association in an upcoming election. She was in Austin Friday and unavailable for comment.
FortBendNow obtained a photo of one of the campaign buttons, and another photo that appears to be four people sitting at a table assembling the buttons.
One of the drivers contended that a button-making device and materials for the buttons had been paid for by the school district. However, neither Belt nor her boss, FBISD Transportation Director Richard Torres, could be reached to respond to that assertion. A school district spokeswoman also could not immediately be reached for comment.
Texas election laws and Ethics Commission rules prohibit school districts from spending public money or resources on political advertising activities or “electioneering.”
However, those laws may not apply to an association election. According to the Texas Election Code, “political advertising” means communication supporting or opposing a candidate “for nomination or election to a public office or office of a political party…”
The Texas Association for Pupil Transportation, according to its web site, “promotes safe and efficient pupil transportation for Texas public school districts.”
15. June 2009 at 7:28 pm
Due respect to Ms. Belt, but she was on duty getting paid and using FBISD supplies when she was allowed to copy all the games for the employees to complete and the play money. Several employees were still clocked in when they answered questions and completed fill in the blanks, etc. Overall the moral is still low among the majority of employees, but not the select few.
14. June 2009 at 5:40 pm
As an employee at fbisd i have a couple of comments regarding Sheila Belt. I don’t know if making the buttons on company time is right or not, but people should be aware of the fact that toward the last 6 wks of school Sheila made a great contribution to the transportation dept.
Morale had been very low at the center for some time. Sheila was the sole person responsible for bringing the drivers together. She did this at very high expense to herself. She came up with an idea for drivers to earn “bucks” and then spend the “bucks” on basket of items she purchased herself. She spent a great deal of money and time on this project. So I say kudos to Sheila!!!!
12. June 2009 at 12:15 pm
Great post. Buttongate!