Posted on 11/06/2003 8:07:47 AM PST by carlo3b
Father, son fired by FBISD (Anti gun nuts are at it again)By: JAMIE MOCK, Reporter November 04, 2003 (Sugar Land, Texas a relatively affluent western suburb of Houston)
The Fort Bend Independent School District employee grievance appeal process has hit the end of the road for former FBISD bus drivers Larry and Erik Danna.Both were fired by the district last year due to an incident involving a weapon brought on board a school bus. Both Dannas, father Larry and his son Erik, appealed the termination, and for the last year have been seeking reinstatement.
FBISD Board heard their fourth and final appeal last week and upheld the terminations.
The Dannas were fired after an incident on Nov. 13 of last year. Erik Danna was picking up Pecan Grove Elementary School children off of Jones road, near prison property. While driving, he passed something in the road he suspected was a gun case. After picking up the children and turning around at the dead end, he stopped the bus next to the case, and instructed a second grade student to get out, pick it up and hand it to him. Danna claims he didn't pick up the case himself because he needed to keep an eye on the other children and the prisoners that were working in the nearby fields.In FBISD Superintendent Betty Baitland's level three hearing denial, she wrote, "I conclude you exercised poor judgement. First, you provided no justification for your decision to send a 7-year-old student off the bus to retrieve a case which contained a firearm."
"I know we did the right thing," says Larry Danna.
"My son did the right thing. I have taught him nothing but safety. He is an Eagle Scout. He made a decision, he didn't sit around."Erik Danna claims he then motioned to several prison guards in the area in an attempt to give them the case.
"He never opened it," says Larry Danna. "He strictly wanted to give it to the prison guards. They wouldn't so much as come to the bus."Erik Danna decided to continue on his route, keeping the case with him. He stopped at an intersection in Pecan Grove where his mother works as a crossing guard, and told her to call the police. He then arrived at the school and unloaded the children.
Larry Danna arrived from his route, and Erik Danna asked him to come over to the bus. Erik Danna showed Larry Danna the case, and Larry Danna opened it. The case contained a loaded gun. Larry Danna says that his career as a firefighter for 30 years and a peace officer for 15 years gave him enough experience and knowledge of firearms to inspect the case without putting anyone in jeopardy.
Both Danna's also point to the fact that there were no students in the vicinity when the existence of a firearm was confirmed. Larry Danna called the FBISD Police Department, who took possession of the gun upon arrival.
"We were already feeling good," says Larry Danna. "We turned the weapon over, nothing happened, it's resolved, it's over with, we have gotten a dangerous situation diffused."FBISD officials disagree.
"Granted, nothing happened," said FBISD attorney Rick Lopez at Erik Danna's level three hearing. "No one was hurt as a result of this incident, but that doesn't change the fact that this is not the type of judgement that the administration wants its bus drivers to be exercising."Erik Danna was fired for brining a weapon onto a school bus, then onto school property.
Larry Danna was fired for handling a firearm on school property and insubordination. The insubordination charge was the result of a verbal confrontation between Larry Danna, area supervisor Margaret Loden and Pecan Grove Principal Sandra Campos."I was standing in the cafeteria with Principal Ms. Campos...," wrote Loden in her statement to James Hoss, transportation operations supervisor. "Larry Danna walked in and said, 'tell me that is not true that they are suspending Erik that is bull-****.'"
Loden also wrote that Larry Danna was "extremely irate and I had to ask him three times to stop until we got into the office."
"What I was actually doing was going to meet Erik to find out what was going on," says Larry Danna.
"The more that went on, the angrier I got. All of this became a big snowball."
"I find that the district has presented sufficient evidence that you used profane language and acted in an insubordinate and unprofessional manner while in the hallway at the school," wrote Baitland in her level three grievance denial.According to Larry and Erik Danna, Campos also handled the gun case, placing in it a plastic bag, then walking towards the school with the bag before turning around when Sheriff's deputies arrived. Both Dannas argue that Campos should also have been subject to disciplinary action.
"I find your complaint without merit, as Ms. Campos never actually handled the firearm itself, and that her actions were taken to secure the safety of the campus, a duty which is one of her primary responsibilities," wrote Baitland.
Larry Danna believes the district has been unfair to both him and his son.
"By telling the truth and being honest the FBISD administration has sought to persecute and crucify me and my son," says Larry Danna."This thing has been under my skin for a year. If they would have just taken us into the office and said we are going to write you up because you shouldn't have done this, I would have been ok with that. But the fact is they work on a crisis basis and there is nothing in the procedures, nothing in the handbook, nothing in the employees book that shows what to do if you find any type of weapon on the road."
©Fort Bend / Southwest Sun 2003
The Fort Bend Independent School District Administration Building is located at 16431 Lexington Blvd, Sugar Land, Texas 77479 and can be reached by telephone at 281/634-1000. For general questions or information about Fort Bend ISD, please email us at cr@fortbend.k12.tx.us.
Stupid *ssh*l*s!
Yes, I'm quite sure there are lots of unsupervised kids walking around a prison area.
You know . . . this guy clearly isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. There were better (certainly smarter) ways to handle the situation. "What a maroon!"
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