PROSPER, Texas — Hundreds of parents poured into Prosper Independent School District's administrative building Tuesday to speak to board members about an allegedly abusive school bus driver from the past.
Earlier in August, attorney Levi McCathern and fellow attorney Kristin Hecker allege that two young girls, 5 and 7 years old, endured "over 100 instances of abuse" and that "Prosper ISD was willfully indifferent in recognizing, preventing, interceding, and responding to any suspicion of—let alone actual instances of—sexual misconduct involving its administrators and students."
The bus driver, Frank Paniagua, was fired, arrested and later died after he tried to kill himself in jail.
But many Prosper parents have said the district never notified families of the allegations or the arrest. Many of these parents said they only found out when news broke weeks later in August that the girls' family was suing the district.
Prosper ISD held an emergency school board meeting Tuesday that started at 8 a.m. Right after it started, however, the board quickly moved into executive session, where members stayed until about 1 p.m.
The public portion was filled with dozens of parents going up to the microphone, talking for two minutes each and expressing concerns as to how the district handled this situation. Many also called for certain district leaders to step down.
One of the parents was Eileen Riverside, who has four kids, including a daughter, Eliza, who is now 7 years old. At one time, she rode on Paniagua's bus. She said she didn't find out what Paniagua was being accused of until another mom texted her.
"I don't think the district's done very well," Riverside said, in terms of how it has handled this situation. "We wanted to be contacted months ago when this occurred or was reported. Or when people first heard about it."
Riverside said she also thinks the district should have provided more support resources to the students and families connected to this Paniagua.
The girls, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, say, Paniagua, over the course of an entire school year, would assault them after all other students left the bus.
The lawsuit claims he "systematically ensured Jane Doe 1 was the last student off the bus so he could assault her at the back of the bus for three to five minutes every morning that she was on his bus."
"Every part of these kids got explored by this man's hands. Every part," McCathern said.
RELATED: More families coming forward with abuse allegations against Prosper ISD bus driver, attorneys say
In a written statement to WFAA, Prosper ISD issued this response:
"We are horrified that an employee violated the trust of our families and students, as Prosper ISD's foremost priority is to protect our students' safety and well-being at all times. We strongly condemn the actions of any adult who would cause mental or physical harm to a child, and we do not tolerate such behavior.
The district took swift and thorough action when we were first made aware of the allegation against this former employee. We would like to provide more details about this matter, but, because of pending litigation, we are not able to offer any additional information at this time."
Paniagua died June 10 after his arrest and booking into the Collin County Jail, where he reportedly jumped off the jail's second floor.
Now, the attorneys say other Prosper ISD families are contacting them with similar stories about the bus driver.
"And something this brazen, it's not going to be the first time that he's done something like this," said Hecker. "But more and more come forward every day, and it's absolutely shocking."
The Prosper ISD school board has since hired an independent law firm to review and investigate the district's response to the allegations and overall situation.
At Tuesday's meeting, the board voted for and confirmed this investigation will take place. However, many parents and people at the meeting expressed concern about how "independent" this investigation will be, as some said they were worried about how connected that firm will be with the firm representing Prosper ISD.