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Bus Stops Still A Mystery For Many

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By MARILYN BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 16, 2008

Updated: 08/16/2008 12:13 am

TAMPA - Hillsborough County parents were still having problems late Friday afternoon reaching the school district to find out where their children's bus will pick them up on Monday.

As of Friday, bus stop information still had not gotten to some parents. District officials have been unable to say how many parents had not received the notification.

School starts Monday for 191,000 Hillsborough students, and more than 90,000 of them ride school buses. Usually students and families get bus information earlier and for years, stops and pickup times varied little.

Problems with the district's transportation hot line continued hours after Superintendent MaryEllen Elia apologized to parents and took responsibility for the delay in releasing the bus stop information.

"I am apologizing profusely that it didn't get out," Elia said at her annual back-to-school news conference, where late bus information dominated the questions.

Elia said the district waited too long to begin the long process of sending letters notifying parents there would be changes to bus stops, then making the changes, holding meetings with parents, adjusting the plan and mailing parents their bus stop information. The district will start earlier on the process next year, she said.

Though the district planned to staff the transportation hot line until 9 p.m. Friday, parents were getting busy signals, being put on hold or being cut off when they called to get the time and place of their child's bus.

School Board Official Blames Elia

School board vice-chairwoman Carol Kurdell, who attended Elia's news conference, said later that the mess is "a series of mishaps" within a very short period of time, vowing, "We cannot allow this to happen again.

"I lay the responsibility at the superintendent's feet," Kurdell said. "She's the one responsible for the day-to-day operations. I think that's the right person."

The district is in its second year of tightening bus routes to increase efficiency. That includes eliminating stops, placing them farther apart, assigning bus stops to students and no longer providing transportation to most students who live within two miles of their school.

The changes were tried in south Hillsborough last year and extended to three more areas of the county this year.

The district is also discontinuing after-school bus service to most private day care centers.

Elia on Friday publicly outlined the process the district used in making the changes:

Some 120,000 letters in English and Spanish were sent out before school ended to alert parents there would be changes in busing in the upcoming year. District spokesman Steve Hegarty said later these letters went to all parents in the four areas of the district where new busing rules would be implemented, regardless of whether they would be affected by the changes.

For-profit day care centers also received letters that bus service would end and 16 parent meetings were held from late May into August.

"Hundreds of parents attended," Elia said, and changes were made based on their input, which took more time.

In early August, about 35,000 letters went out, notifying parents in the four areas of the district of their assigned bus stops. Earlier this week an automated phone alert went out, telling parents if they had not received a letter, to contact the call center or request information by e-mail.

A lightning strike put the call center out of operation "for a period of time," she said. The phones have been disabled on and off since the July 23 lightning strike, Hegarty said, including earlier this week.

Now, with the call center inundated, Elia said she watched calls being made Friday morning and "it was a 14-minute wait."

'It's Been A Hassle'

Elia apologized several times, at one point saying, "I don't believe this was up to our usual standards." She asked parents to be patient. Schools received electronic versions of the schedules Thursday night, she said.
Friday afternoon parents were still tracking down stops and times.

Stacey McSweeney, mother of daughters attending Smith Middle and Bellamy Elementary, said she had never received letters from the district regarding transportation.

Tuesday night, she said she got a recorded phone message saying if she had not received bus information in the mail, her children are not eligible. She knew her children qualified, so she started calling the district hot line.

"I called numerous times," she said. "A couple times it would ring, then go to a busy signal. Or it was just a busy signal."

McSweeney got her 11-year-old daughter's bus stop information at the school's open house Thursday night. Bellamy would not give her the same information over the phone due to safety concerns, she said.

"I think that's a little silly right now since everyone is trying to get bus information," she said. "It's been a hassle - under stress."

Elia vowed that students will not be left standing in an area that has buses going by on Monday. "They will pick them up," she said.

She also said that parents will have to learn to adjust to not having bus service if they live within two miles of school, the state requirement unless there are validated safety hazards.

Elia extended the call center hours for today and Sunday from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. That number is (813) 982-5500.

Over the weekend, eight to 10 people will be answering the phones.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at mbrown@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-8069.

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