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Dispatcher heroics save student
Student shooting victim saved by CSEA hero
by David Ngô
Sesody has over 20 years of experience driving school buses.
As a veteran bus driver and dispatcher for over 23 years, Ann Sesody relies on her training and experience in times of crisis. Sesody, a member from Franklin-McKinley Chapter 502, is committed to keeping students on her buses safe while raising a son – all in the inner city. On March 31, those two commitments came together while on the way to pick up her son for a tele doc appointment on a rare free morning. “We’re trained to scan ahead and see what’s going on, so it’s natural for me to pay attention,” said Sesody. “I saw this kid running down the street and it looked like he was running away from something. A couple seconds later, I saw a second kid running and I thought right away: these guys are running for their lives.”
Shortly after noticing signs of distress, Sesody turned her car around, got out and came to the student’s side after he fell to the concrete. “As I was walking up to the kid, he was in shock, like he was in a lot of pain. I called the police and within minutes cop cars showed up,” Sesody explained. “At first, I didn’t know he was shot but I found out later that the bullet went in the back of his leg and ended up in his kneecap.” Trained bus drivers like Sesody are instinctive in nature to look for signs of danger, whether on the clock or not. But when you’re also a parent raising a family in the same neighborhoods where you work, it feels different.
“I saw this kid running down the street and it looked like he was running away from something. A couple seconds later, I saw a second kid running and I thought right away: these guys are running for their lives.”
- Ann Sesody, veteran bus driver and dispatcher
For Sesody, she started thinking about her own son’s safety, a senior at a nearby east San José high school, where they began barricading classroom doors and entrances. “Student safety was my team’s first task,” said Marco Osuna, associate principal at Yerba Buena High School near where the shooting occurred. “We have two other schools on site with roughly 2,000 students that we need to assure their safety. That’s why we sheltered in place.” For many CSEA members, working in the public school system also means working in rough neighborhoods. The simple act of reacting to a strange situation doesn’t feel like much at first, but the consequences of not acting at all could make a difference. According to data of school-related shootings since 1970 compiled by the Naval Postgraduate School, California has had the most incidents of any other state. With that reality in mind, classified school employees and staff are always among the first to spring into action to protect students before law enforcement can arrive. Thanks to Sesody’s response and phone call to the police, the student victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he received surgery for a non-life threatening wound.
“I could have chosen to close my car doors and drive off but what kind of person would I be?” Sesody added. Later that evening, reports show that a juvenile male suspect was taken into custody and the high school ended their shelter-in-place shortly after. “For those of us doing this job, it’s just in our nature,” said Joni Policy, Transportation Supervisor at the Franklin-McKinley School District and coworker of Sesody. “We’re here to provide a service and you get to know the kids in the community, so of course you want to help them.” Throughout her recollection of the events that day, Sesody speaks about the community she lives and works in with pride.
Ann Sesody currently works as a bus dispatcher for the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose.
"We’re here to provide a service and you get to know the kids in the community, so of course you want to help them."
- Joni Policy, Transportation Supervisor, Franklin-McKinley School District
Although her transportation department at the Franklin-McKinley school district has been impacted by driver shortages, she remains committed because at the end of the day – this is her home. “I feel very grateful for growing up and working in this area. Maybe our students don’t have what other kids have, but I feel like a lot of our schools really take care of each other,” Sesody admitted. “I’d like to think somebody would help my son in the same situation. We do need to take care of each other, and I think even with CSEA, we’ve really tried to pull together in tough times.”
