Driver Assaulted In ‘Bus Barn Bully’ Case Terminated By FBISD

Jack Richardson, the FBISD bus driver who was physically assaulted by the transportation supervisor dubbed the “Bus Barn Bully” has been fired from the school district.

Richardson told Fort Bend Now that just before the school district went on holiday break, he was summoned in and told he was being terminated.

The district has been closed for the holiday and no one has been available for comment.

Richardson said he “saw it coming for a long time,” adding the district had been compiling complaints against him since the day he refused to drop the assault case against former transportation supervisor Dann Long.

The assault, which occurred more than a year ago, stirred controversy when Fort Bend ISD initially failed to take any disciplinary action against Long even though he plead guilty to “assault by contact” before Justice of the Peace Joel Clouser on Dec. 3 of last year. Long was given deferred adjudication by the court, but no action was taken by the school district even though its own personnel policies call for immediate dismissal in such cases.

Only as Long’s period of deferred adjudicaton, a type of probation, was about to expire, did he leave the district. According to sources within the transportation department, Long was forced out because of publicity over the case. However, as is its policy on personnel issues, the district did not comment on the separation other than to confirm Long was no longer with the school district.

During the deferred adjudication period, district officials allowed Long to remain in his position – including supervising Richardson. It was during that time, Richardson said, the retaliation began.

In an April interview with FortBendNow, Richardson described how, even after Long’s departure, transportation supervisors were “building a case” to get rid of him at the direction of then- Transportation Director Richard Torres.

“Until that time (of the assault), I had an unblemished record as a bus driver. After that, I began getting written up for little issues on the bus,” Richardson said in April. “It didn’t take long for all those little things to begin to mount up. Nothing changed, I was the same driver I’d always been, it’s just that I wouldn’t look the other way (about the assault).”

The minor infractions claimed by transportation supervisors ultimately led to Richardson twice being suspended.

In response, Richardson, a Sugar Land resident, filed a grievance asking that the suspensions be overturned and any negative documentation in his personnel records generated following the day he filed the criminal complaint be removed.

In his grievance, Richardson called the suspensions “arbitrary and capricious.”

The appeal of the first of the two suspensions had been scheduled to be heard by the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees, the final step in the appeals process, when Richardson was told he was being fired.

Richardson called the timing suspicious, particularly since he had pushed for the hearing before the school board to be held in a public session. All of the previous appeal levels were held behind closed doors.

“I don’t think the school board wanted all of this aired in public, so the word was passed to get rid of me now,” he said. “They knew some serious issues would be raised and they didn’t want to be put on the hot seat.”

Days after being fired, Richardson received a letter from FBISD attorney Carolyn Hanahan telling him the grievance hearing before the board had been cancelled.

“The purpose of this correspondence is to inform you that our Level IV grievance appeal is untimely and will not proceed,” the letter read.

The Dec. 9 letter said the appeal was not filed within the prescribed amount of time under district rules.

“As stated in Fort Bend ISD Board Police DGBA (Local) an appeal of a grievance decision must be filed on or before the tenth day of the date of the Level III response. Ms. Shepheard’s Level III response was dated November 10, 2009; therefore, your appeal had to be filed no later than November 24, 2009,” Hanahan wrote. “Given the untimely filing, this matter is now closed and will not be scheduled for a hearing before the board.”

Richardson said he had not yet decided whether to make any effort to fight to win back his job. He called the district’s appeals process “pretty much of a joke.”

“The call you in; they let you talk a little while; they uphold the action taken against you. They’re just going through the motions,” he said. “They’re not interested in doing what’s right or watching out for the employees. If they ever actually upheld an employee’s grievance, I don’t know what would happen. The hearing officer would probably get fired.”

Richardson said in all the time he was with the district, he never heard of an instance in which an employee grievance or appeal was upheld.

The only other course of action would be to file suit against the district, but Richardson said he was not sure if it would be worth the expense.

“They can easily outspend a little guy like me. They’ve got millions of taxpayer dollars, including some of mine, to use to defend themselves,” he said.

For now, Richardson said he was going to enjoy the holidays and mull over his options.

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll run for school board now that I’ve got some time on my hands,” he said.