Sean Sullivan Sean Sullivan, a 16-yearold from Murchison, died November 8 following a vehicle accident, and his passing dealt a blow to Brownsboro Independent School District and Henderson County. Hundreds attended his funeral, among the people there were representatives from 15 fire departments and even the United States Marine Corps.

Scott Martin, a firefighter with Westside Volunteer Fire Department, said you never want to see a kid die, and Sullivan was a good kid with a bright future.

"He was an Explorer with Westside," Martin said. "He was learning about fire service with us, and he was also a junior firefighter with Murchison."

According to Martin, there was rarely a time when Sean was seen without some kind of uniform on his shoulders. He was with the police explorers out of Tyler and had his entry into the Marine Corps after school planned out.

"He had a lot of energy," Martin said. "Here was a good kid who wanted to make things better."

The student was also involved with Sand Springs Baptist Church, and was scheduled to join the church officially on the Sunday after the crash.

Nathan Straus Photo BISD school buses in a row await fuel, service and drivers for the busy afternoon ahead The Saturday afternoon Sullivan died, his vehicle was traveling on CR 3800, north of Murchison. The police report stated he was traveling at an unsafe speed and left the road, crashing into a tree. He later died at ETMC Athens, though his passenger, 14-year-old Ricky Harris, wasn't injured.

Sullivan is the fourth BISD student this year lost to a vehicle accident.

Martin said there are three things for the schools and parents to consider: are students being taught to drive, are the lessons being followed up on and are the students being supported?

The school's Community in Schools program is working to put together a driving safety program for the students.

Kenneth Wooten, Brownsboro High School principal, said he and Sullivan had conversations, visits, about life in general.

"Sean was one of those kids who didn't know stranger," Wooten said. "He was a good kid, goodperson hearted. That's the kind of he was."

Sullivan's goal was to become a marine and continue his firefighting; he connected with those groups, Wooten said.

"We miss him," the principal added. "He was a great, kind-hearted student. "

He added quite a few students have been to counseling sessions following Sullivan's death; the wounds left by the passing of the Cummings' brothers having not fully healed.

"Every day gets a little better," Wooten said.

A candlelight vigil was held for Sean Wednesday, November 12.

During the 2007-2008 school year, it cost Brownsboro Independent School District $2.88 per bus each mile for maintenance. Less than half of this is paid by the state, and so it falls on Transportation Director Chester York and his department to keep costs low while keeping service quality high.

"Our district," York said, "covers a 200 square mile area. Up to 195 are in Henderson County, five are in Van Zandt."

The bus routes go to Henderson County lines, to two separate Intermediate and Elementary schools and one special needs bus even goes to Tyler. Even though this bus runs upward of 28,000 miles a year, it saves the school money because it services the hearing impaired students, a program that would be costly for BISD to employ.

There are 38 total bus routes - six are special needs routes - with a total of 44 buses.

All buses need to have the students in school in time for breakfast before 8am.

"This is no later than 10 till 8am, so we had to be creative," York said.

An example provided was the transfer points some buses use. Two buses would pick up all ages in two areas and meet at a transfer point to exchange the students. One bus takes the prekindergarten through sixth grade students to the Chandler campuses, while the other takes the rest to Brownsboro. This scenario makes the task of getting all the kids where they're supergy, posed to be work out, even in situations such as Coffee City where the students live far from the school.

"If the buses didn't do that, our kids would get here between 8:30 and 9am. It's impossible to do this with one bus route," York said. "I'm surprised it works so well. Two buses, for example, go to the transfer point by Martin Springs and within two minutes these buses have met and gone."

York said he wanted to fill district tax payers in on some of the ways the school keeps costs low for them.

"All the buses go out in the same direction, but they take the shortest routes back," the transportation director said. "We also encourage home buses, buses that are taken home with drivers at the end of the day. This cuts fuel consumption and, believe it or not, absenteeism."

A no idling rule has been added where bus drivers must turn off their buses if they are going to idle for more than three minutes. In addition, a 10-minute maximum warm up period has been declared, so drivers can't leave the vehicles warming up for more than 10 minutes before they take them to the routes.

Buses must take the most direct route on the return trip, though the bridge-out at FM 317 has caused some grief, York said.

The downed bridge isn't the only thing the transportation department has to keep tabs on. With such high costs for the department, it makes sense to save money wherever possible.

"We watch everything we spend," York said. "We get three to four bids every time we order fuel."

The department has fuel and light mechanics who, every day, gas up and fully inspect half the BISD fleet. Each vehicle parks in the same spot each day where it is inspected and made ready; if there's a problem, the mechanics instantly know which van is ailing and which driver needs to be notified. It is because of these inspections the buses are able to continue working and going where they need to be.

"We don't have the facilities in Chandler to service these buses," York said. "If they stayed in Chandler after dropping off the kids then they wouldn't get serviced or fueled. "

A school day in the life of one of these buses starts before 6am, when the first bus leaves the transportation department to pick up students. The last one pulls out at 7:05am, and 25 minutes later the first buses begin returning, having dropped the students off at school. The buses ferry up to 1,900 students and travel about 200 square miles twice each day. After the buses are all in their parking spots, the last one returning close to 8am, half the fleet is inspected, then the buses are off again at about 3pm following a final inspection. By 3:35 all the buses have left, and from 4:05 to 4:55 they return again for lockup.

"What I did when we redrew the routes," York stated, "no kid would be on the bus more than an hour. This is tough in some places, though."

If the buses meant to ferry students to and from school in Chandler were to be left in Chandler after delivering students 2 column x 6 inches to school there would be no safe place to put the buses, and no backup plan should one of the buses fail to start on the return trip. While such breakdowns are rare thanks to the constant maintenance the vehicles receive, any machine can nonetheless have any number of errors that need immediate fixing.

Chester York added if the school did decide to keep the Chandler buses in Chandler to save on gas costs it would only save 144 miles each week for all the buses combined. In addition, if one of the buses should break down, it would take 30-45 minutes to get another bus or mechanic from Brownsboro to Chandler to assist.

York said he wants any taxpayers with questions to come visit the transportation department for a grand tour of the facility. In addition, the bus routes are available online at www.brownsboro.k12.tx.us under the Bus Routes button.

He added he's proud of his department, and of the fact he didn't have any open positions to fill from last year, meaning all his drivers returned after summer.