During the 2021-22 school year at an elementary school in the Prosper Independent School District (PISD), two girls under 10 years of age were sexually assaulted on a school bus by their 61-year-old driver. This driver, Frank Paniagua, would make impromptu stops in the morning before school to "adjust the seatbelts" of these girls, only to grope their chests, crotches, and rears over and under their clothing. He also disconnected the GPS tracking of the bus to go off-route so as not to be caught molesting the children. He ensured that these two were the final children off of the bus, oftentimes holding them in the bus for 5-10 minutes to continue with this assault without prying eyes. This case would have gone unseen, unhear, if there wasn't for one key detail:

It was recorded. The cameras on the buses captured the touching. The GPS tracking, prior to its disabling, tracked how the bus would go off-route nearly every day. The teachers helping with drop-off who saw Paniagua hold the girls in were eyewitnesses to it.

However, it was all hidden. Superintendent Holly Ferguson and former Transportation Director Annamarie Hamrick heard it all. Had the footage. Heard the complaints. Saw the tracker. And yet they did nothing to stop it.

The case was finally finalized on 13 February of 2025, to which the court ruled in favour of Ferguson and Hamrick, providing them immunity to the claims made. 

This is NOT a petition pertaining to the groomer--rather, this is to not only bring awareness to the situation (which PISD has been hiding), but to demand some form of public statement from either of the officials involved regardless of their granted immunity. 

Both of these women have children themselves. Have loved ones. Have a family. If the same were to happen to their own blood, would the result have been the same? Would they have been compliant with letting a district silence their voices, silence the pain of having a loved one tormented every single morning by somebody not only older, but with far more power than them? It is highly unlikely. So why is it that it is acceptable for them to remain silent in this case? The two children were 6 and 8--they could not yet speak for themselves; they were being taught to count and yet they couldn't even count on their school to protect them from harm.

The major claim made in this case was that there was insufficient evidence proving that 1) the staff and administrators knew about the abuse and 2) that it is documented well at all. Sexual assault and other sex crimes, especially on the vulnerable, are notoriously difficult to pinpoint and properly justified. One thing is clear, though, in this case: Dr Ferguson and Hamrick knew. Whether they kept it to themselves or not, they knew in their hearts that this was all too real. The groomer was jailed, the driver was replaced, and yet the family was not once paid or helped at all for this trauma.

This case has been hidden for far too long--it started in 2022 and even now it is being shunned from the public eye for appearances sake. The Prosper district is one of the fastest growing districts in all of Texas, with some of the top sports and academic buildings. They are scared that if this were to get out, it would ruin such a pristine reputation.

As student in PISD myself, I find it sickening that such a case is simply being hidden away with not even so much as a word from the person who is supposed to be directing our schools. I refuse to let myself, to let my friends, some of whom victims of sexual harassment and assault themselves, to let my loved ones attend schools in a district that cowers away from issues such as sexual assault of children. 

We are all minors--the mass majority of students in PISD are under the age of 18. Are we to attend schools where we are told that our stories aren't valued? Where, even if we beg and plead and scream, it will be meaningless? No. We cannot stand to have our school lead by people who will not address serious issues like this.