I have been following Hillsborough county schools since August to see how well the local government can respond to problems and what they do to prevent them from happening.
It all started on Monday August 18, 2008. That was the day they Hillsborough County schools began for the 2008/2009 school year. Actually, the problem started before then…About 2000 calls came in even before the school year started from parents that had a problem with the boards new plan for transportation. They thought they would save time and money by cutting bus stops. There are a few problems with that, one safety of course, and two, many parents and school kids did not know about the route changes. A St. Petersburg Time’s article headlined the morning after this plan was put to the real test “School Starts Smoothly,” but I could not help but wonder how that was even printed. So there were no real problems, if you consider thousands of kids not being able to get to school acceptable. The article quotes “Hillsborough schools had a hectic but mostly trouble-free start of the school year Monday, despite widespread confusion over bus route changes.” I think widespread confusion is actually a problem.
But problems are typical when many people are involved, and it is the local government’s job to attack each road bump as they come along. So how did the Hillsborough County School Board do?
Well a week after the “hectic” start and some bad weather (schools were closed for a day because if Hurricane Fay) the school district said that calls about the bus problems were beginning to “taper off.” But what they mean by that is in just three days they received 1200 calls about the transportation issues. While it is less, it is still unacceptable.
Ironically, days later in August 28th, Jack Davis, the administrator in charge if Hillsborough County School’s transportation department, decided to retire. The school board said it was because of his health and had nothing to do with the transportation mess. Vice Chairwoman Carol Kurdell said “Physically he just couldn’t keep going.” Another board member, Susan Valdes seemed to counter that argument when in response she said “I’ve noticed a trend when they retire all of a sudden.” She called the problem “a fiasco” and she thought it was because of poor planning.
Parents have major concerns when it comes to the safety of their kids. June Leland and Kathy Walsh do not understand why their 16-year-old daughters have to walk more than 2 miles to get to their bus stop. They voiced their concerns to Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia at a meeting at Coleman Middle School. The moms say it is not safe and the only choice they have is to drive their girls to the bus stop. Elia’s response was that parents actually voted 2 years prior on the current location. Mudra Kumar told her that the focus should be on the kids and that she does not recall a single meeting. The problem, lack of communications once again. But at this time, September 10th, the calls are down to 600. So they are making some progress, but how long until the number is a single digit?
Days later Elia was grilled at a Town Hall meeting for an array of things, but the hot topic was again the school bus stops. More than a dozen parents stood up to the microphone to voice their dismay in front of the 200 parents and school administrators in attendance. Elia publicly apologized for the lack of communications, but also referred most of the complaints to the transportation manager. She also informed the concerned parents that the board has investigated about 200 bus stops that were cause for complaint and 80 of them have already been changed. This is the first good step I have seen from the Hillsborough School Board in regards to this issue. Elia finally took some responsibility for the problem, let the people speak, actually listened and informed them of what she is doing and what she will continue to do to fix it. Parents in attendance noticed this as well, Luis Padilla spoke about how his 11-year-old autistic son was put on a bus that was late and he was dropped off without a parent waiting. Padilla was unable to contact anyone at the district. After this meeting he did say “I like the fact that I was able to talk to somebody, hopefully everything will work out.”
So with the government moving in the right direction, they can start to work out the problems. On October 27, 2008 the school board had a workshop on transportation. The changes that are planned for next year are;
1. A website that would allow parents to view their bus stops before the 2009-2010 school year begins.
2. A new system to handle parent phone calls that would emphasize returned phone calls rather than placing callers on hold
3. Having drivers practice proposed routes before the first day of school
4. An incentive plan to encourage bus driver attendance
5. Adjusting bell times at some schools by adding or subtracting minutes to give buses more time to get to school.
In all when it came to problems, the School Board of Hillsborough County encountered a giant, but Superintendent Mary Ellen Elia and her staff met the problem face on after taking fault and moving forward.
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