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Students' Bus Stop Letters Get Tardy Slip

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By RICH SHOPES and JESSICA DaSILVA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

Updated: 08/14/2008 12:22 am

TAMPA - With only days before school starts, thousands of parents in Hillsborough County still don't know whether their children are eligible to ride a bus to school and where to catch it.

Bus assignment letters that should have gone out to parents two weeks ago were delayed about a week because of a combination of factors, school district officials say. Those factors include a lightning strike at transportation offices in Thonotosassa and difficulties in introducing a new bus program.

The lightning also caused problems with the district's transportation hot line, meaning many of those who didn't receive a letter also couldn't reach the district by phone.

"It's really hard not knowing because we don't know whether we can ride, not ride, how to get back. If our parents don't know, they get really worried," said Mariah Gilley, 15, a sophomore at Robinson High School in South Tampa. "It's a big inconvenience."

Most years, parents and students have found out their bus stop by calling their school or returning to the same stop as the previous year.

This year, however, the district has cracked down on busing students who live within two miles of school, a move that affects about 6,000 students. Most of those affected live in southern Hillsborough, South Tampa, Town 'N Country, Westchase, Carrollwood, Forest Hills and Central Tampa.

The district also has made numerous changes in bus stop locations and times.

District officials say about 35,000 letters went out to parents in the past week to inform them of their children's bus stops. That's later than the district intended, and many parents and students still hadn't gotten their letters by Wednesday.

That's left them wondering what to do Monday, Hillsborough's first day of school.

The letters should have arrived a week ago to tell parents their children may ride the bus, where to catch it and when, district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. Parents of children ineligible for bus service will not receive letters.

Ashley Guyton, 43, of Tampa has two sons in middle school. After numerous telephone calls and e-mails, Guyton said, she received her older son's bus stop assignment in the mail Wednesday. She was glad to get the information but shocked at the pick-up time, 7:36 a.m., and disappointed the information took so long to get to her.

"If we don't have communication, we can't plan accordingly," Guyton said. "They can't wait for the eleventh hour."

To learn where their children can catch the bus, parents may call a district hot line set up to deal with the transportation problems, (813) 982-5500. It would be helpful to have the child's Student Identification Number and be prepared to call back. The telephone line is often busy. To complicate matters, the lightning strike caused problems with the hot line.

Parents also may call their child's school, but district officials say many schools won't receive the bus route information until late today, meaning parents shouldn't call their school until Friday.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com. Reporter Jessica DaSilva can be reached at (813) 259-7851 or jdasilva@tampatrib.com.

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