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County Schools Bus Administrator Leaving

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 27, 2008

TAMPA - Jack Davis, the 57-year-old administrator in charge of Hillsborough Schools' embattled transportation department, is retiring Sept.5.

Davis signed his retirement papers Tuesday, a little more than a week after the start of school brought scores of problems, from inability of parents to reach the transportation department's hotline to complaints over bus routes and rules.

School board members said Wednesday that Davis' resignation is because of his health, and not the result of a transportation department's expansion that school board members are calling a "fiasco" and a "crisis."

"He chose to retire because he wasn't up to his full capacity," said school board Vice Chairwoman Carol Kurdell. "Physically he just couldn't keep going."

Kurdell said Superintendent MaryEllen Elia called her Monday to tell her of Davis' retirement.

As chief information and technology officer, Davis also supervises the district's communications, assessment and accountability, information services, staff development, supplier diversity and customer service and support.

Davis signed papers Tuesday indicating his last day will be Sept. 5, according to Steve Hegarty, who heads the communications department under Davis. He enrolled in the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program in January of this year, according to Hegarty.

That program allows employees to work for up to five more years while also earning retirement pay that draws interest.

School board member April Griffin said Elia called her Tuesday afternoon to tell her about Davis.

"I was told it was because of his back and his health problems," Griffin said. "I think that's their story and they're sticking to it."

Although the district is making progress in handling the transportation issues, Griffin said that because he was also dealing with health issues, Davis, "hasn't been paying as much attention as he could have been" to transportation.

Board member Susan Valdes said she was called by Elia on Tuesday about Davis' retirement.

"I was shocked," she said. "I've noticed a trend when they retire all of a sudden."

Valdes called the transportation problems "a fiasco" and blames lack of planning.

"In my opinion, it's MaryEllen and her staff and with Jack," Valdes said. "Blaming it on (transportation chief) John Franklin would be so unfair. He was given the tools he was given and the staff he had."
Davis has worked for the district for 34 years as a teacher, principal and administrator, but was given supervision of transportation by Elia about two years ago when the district started overhauling the ailing system fraught with late buses and unruly students.

Neither Davis nor Elia could be reached for comment Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, parents were getting through to the transportation call center, where 19 lines were open and 1,663 calls answered, Hegarty said. Retired Freedom High Principal Richard Bartels was sent to the call center this week as principal liaison to work with schools, Hegarty said.

"They seem to have a handle on it and people are getting through - I heard that today for the first time," Kurdell said. "There has to be accountability for what happened. We just can't have this. It's just been nightmarish for everybody concerned."

Some parents who were frustrated last week said they received call-backs over the weekend or this week. For some, bus stops were changed.

The new plan that totally revamped the system – requiring many students to walk farther to stops, cuts after-school buses to for-profit programs and some nonprofit programs and eliminates courtesy busing – has a long way to go, say many parents and bus drivers.

"It's a mess," said Luis Perez, president of the Hillsborough School Employees Federation. "Has it gotten any better? No, no, not yet."

The district has finally given bus driver supervisors authority to change routes that have led to overcrowded buses, he said. Field supervisors who assist on routing issues are getting district cell phones, he said.

Bus drivers were supposed to call the district call center this year if they had to go to a doctor's appointment or needed someone to cover for them, he said. The call center was jammed with parents, so "they can't get through," he said Wednesday. "I got calls today."

Some parents, however, were are taking drastic measures to get answers:

•A South Hillsborough mother hired an attorney this week to help get her 10-year-old son with autism get picked up an hour later so he doesn't have to spend nearly two hours on a school bus each morning.

"All I'm asking for is someone to respond and call me back," Laurie Eckley said. "He can't read or write at all – he has a hard enough time with school without being on the bus for two hours."

Last year and during the summer, Eckley's son was picked up less than an hour before school at the end of the cul-de-sac where they live to go to Simmons Exceptional Student Education Center in Plant City. A bus driver called the Friday before school started to give Eckley the new time. She drove to the district transportation office in Thonotosassa the first day of school and was told they didn't schedule ESE buses. She filled out a form anyway and got a phone message Aug. 21 saying her request was denied.

•Sherri Southwell of Carrollwood sent Elia an invoice Tuesday for a $105.99 reimbursement for driving 36 miles and spending 4 1/2 hours of vacation pay to get information on her 16-year-old daughter's bus stop.

Although Southwell had a bus stop by the second day of school, she said she sent the invoice to make a point with Elia: "She needs to know how much parents have had to spend. It's the frustration of it all. You can't really put a price on frustration. It's put a hardship on a lot of people."

Some parents were still waiting for responses Wednesday and taking care of transportation themselves.

Shana Rivera said her 5-year-old son, Lazaro Marin, walked home alone the first day from busy West Waters Avenue in front of her apartment complex instead of inside her complex. Kindergarten students are not supposed to be dropped off without an adult to meet them.

Rivera said she eventually got a call back from Davis saying someone would call her, but no one ever did. Her sister-in-law was able to wait for Lazaro until Rivera found an after-school program to pick him up from school.

In the morning the bus is supposed to arrive before 7:30, but Tuesday it came at 8:30, half an hour after school starts. Rivera took her son to school Wednesday and said, "I don't have a choice unless it's fixed."

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

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