School district IDs child killed in Texas bus crash
HAYS COUNTY — The Hays County school district identified the 5-year-old boy who died in the crash involving a school bus outside Austin on Friday.
According to Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Ulises Rodriguez Montoya loved his family, dinosaurs, the color green and going to school.
On March 22, a bus carrying pre-K students from Tom Green Elementary School in Buda was struck by a cement truck on Highway 21.
The students were returning from a field trip to the Bastrop Zoo. The bus was carrying 44 students and 11 adults at the time of the crash, the district said.
The district says the bus involved in the accident was not equipped with seatbelts.
The district began buying buses with seatbelts in 2017 when the Texas legislature made it a requirement. The bus involved in the crash was a 2011 model bus. The district says about 40 of Hays CISD's 200 buses are older than 2017, meaning they too do not have seatbelts.
Hays CISD says all injured students have been released from the hospital as of Monday afternoon. One staff member, an early childhood education teacher, remains hospitalized.
The driver of a 3rd vehicle involved also died. Funeral and memorial services for Ulises are pending.