SHERMAN, TX-It was a scary ride to school for some Sherman students Thursday morning when their bus driver became disoriented while on the way to Dillingham Intermediate School.
Twenty-two Sherman students were on the bus Thursday morning when their driver tried to drop them off at the wrong school, then nearly took them back home! We hear from one of the students who was so concerned he called his father and police.
Thursday morning, Xavier Shubert was riding the school bus to Dillingham Intermediate when he noticed something was wrong with the driver.
"He went to Piner middle school, then he went to Sory elementary school, then he went back to Piner. Everyone was sitting there saying 'what are you doing? What are you doing? Dillingham is that way!' And he's all 'I know what I'm doing!'" He said.
He said the driver seemed disoriented and confused.
"'I'm all 'dude, you're supposed to take us all to school, what's your problem?' He's all, 'get off the dang bus, it's 3:00!'"
Worried, Xavier texted his dad, Patrick.
"This is concerning, I won't want this guy to drive my kids around if this is something that's prone to happen," he said.
"I was scared but I thought that if I'd shown it, it would've freaked the bus driver out even more," said Xavier.
Xavier called police who caught up to the bus and pulled it over near Austin College. When his dad got to the scene, he went over to the driver.
" I asked the bus driver, 'is this gonna happen again? Is this something I should worry about?' And he said he had a medical emergency," he said.
SISD Transportation Director, Randy Reddell said the students were transferred to another school bus and taken to Dillingham.
The driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
"There's no criminal activity, it's strictly a medical issue that just came upon him unexpectedly, it's was not anticipated," he said.
Reddell says they don't let anyone with a known, serious medical condition drive school buses...and each driver is subject to regular medical check-ups.
"All of our staff undergo medical examinations, they have to be cleared by a medical officer. They have to be certified by a medical physician, they have to pass a physical," he said.
"I'm not after anybody's job but I would like to know that there is something in place that will assure me that this is not gonna happen again," said Shubert.
"We understand and we certainly appreciate and can identify with the concern and the care, they're our kids too," said Reddell.
Reddell said after this incident, the bus driver will not be allowed to drive school buses until he has had more medical evaluations. He will also have to be recertified.
The driver was still in the hospital, he was last listed in stable condition.
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