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Schools Hope For Best On Friday

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By MARILYN BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 20, 2008

Updated: 03/20/2008 12:16 am

TAMPA - Friday will be one to remember, Hillsborough County school officials said Wednesday as they scrambled to shift bus routes, muster up volunteers and craft phone alerts to parents.

Schools will open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. so more parents can provide transportation on Good Friday when hundreds of bus drivers and nearly 20 percent of teachers are already planning to take a day of leave time.

That opening time is three hours early for most middle schools and two hours ahead for most elementary schools. Teachers who are working aren't required to be there, but principals and assistant principals will.

"I personally talked to my middle school principals today, and a couple said they are going to come in at 6 and stay until the last student leaves," said George Gaffney, area director for schools mostly in New Tampa. "Others are doing an early and late shift."

Some bus routes will be canceled for lack of drivers, and some cafeterias may operate with volunteers.

As of late Wednesday, John Franklin, the district's transportation chief, was mixing and matching drivers and routes, trying to eliminate as few as possible and cover transportation for all exceptional education students.

Schools with just a few buses were the most likely to lose bus service Friday, said Steve Hegarty, the district spokesman.

It became clear Monday that many bus drivers, teachers, lunchroom staff and other personnel planned to take a personal leave day on Friday, a day the Hillsborough district has traditionally scheduled as a holiday. When all teachers were surveyed Tuesday, several schools had no teachers expecting to take personal leave or sick days, but others counted just one or two teachers planning to be off. But a number reported a quarter or more of the teachers would. For a few, half are taking a leave day.

Lewis Brinson, assistant superintendent for administration, said he asked principals to appeal to teachers face to face during faculty meetings Tuesday "to come to work Friday if they can" and to let them know if they won't be in "so we can make plans."

Planning For A Normal Day

Enough staff, including substitutes and volunteers from district offices, should be on hand and classes will be combined if necessary, Brinson said.

"The plan is to have as normal a day as possible," he said. "There are a lot of variables ... If you try to watch 50 kids at different grade levels, it gets hard."

"It'll be a day that we'll remember for a while," Brinson said.

How many students will show up is unknown, as is how many more teachers and other employees will take a day for personal use.

"We have places where the whole staff isn't coming in," said Mary Kate Harrison, general manager for student nutrition services. "We're working with some, asking them to reconsider." She said she has also asked for volunteers from the district's finance division.

"It would be a great chance to get out there and see what we have to deal with," Harrison said.

Cafeteria staff range from four or five at an elementary school to 20 at a high school, Harrison said. As of Tuesday, at least 167 said they plan to take a leave day Friday.

Harrison said she has asked staff to prepare as much as possible today, including making bag lunches or altered menus, if necessary: "If you have just one employee, they can heat corn dogs in the oven while a volunteer serves."

For schools staying open late, "We had some snacks for FCAT, we probably have some left," she said, referring state testing last week.

Data To Be Used For Future

Superintendent MaryEllen Elia recorded a message Wednesday to be phoned to families by the district's telephone alert system. It noted the extended hours, combined classes and elimination of bus stops. The alert was pulled because not all of the district's 191,000 students will be affected, Hegarty said.

Students who won't have bus transportation are supposed to get a call as well as a letter to take home today, he said

In 2009-10, Good Friday falls during spring break. Elia and school board members said they will use absentee data from this Friday to determine whether it should be a holiday in the future.

When school board members met Wednesday afternoon, some had suggestions. Candy Olson said maybe the district should negotiate with employees' unions to require a doctor's note on certain days or double the time taken off on those days.

School board Chairwoman Jennifer Faliero, who has wanted Good Friday to remain a day off, said, "We had to have hard data to get it off. ... This will be the hard data."

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

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