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Schools Hoping It's No Freaky Friday

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By MARILYN BROWN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 21, 2008

Updated: 03/21/2008 12:11 am

TAMPA - Numbers will tell the story today in Hillsborough County schools - how many buses, students, teachers and other workers show up on Good Friday.

A traditional day off for the district, officials were sent into a tailspin this week as thousands of employees, including teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, clerical staff and nurses, said they will take a personal leave day.

Carlos Lopez, a bus driver for Martinez Middle School in Lutz, said both he and his wife are among them.

"Somebody is brainless or something," said the Puerto Rican native who celebrates Good Friday as "a day you talk to God." He transports exceptional education and regular students and told parents himself that he was not going to be driving today.

"I got little kids in wheelchairs," he said. "I talk to their mommies. Some of them said they are not going to school anyway. One mommy said, 'I'll take him, Mr. Lopez - don't worry about it.'"

Which buses would be running at all and which students they would pick up were questions for many.

An initial list of schools without bus service was at 15 Thursday morning and grew to 19 even with some of the original schools removed. Altogether, the list of more than 80 schools with 369 bus runs cut was also somewhat fluid, officials said.

"We've added additional pockets today" to the list of canceled runs, John Franklin, the district's transportation chief, said Thursday. He said he is hopeful that he can patch any new holes when he arrives at 4:30 a.m. today and learns how many drivers called in.

Letters or notes were supposed to be sent home Thursday with each child affected and a phone call was supposed to be made to the home.

One parent still waiting for a phone call after 7 p.m. was Tammy Turner, whose son attends Shields Middle School, where bus service was canceled. Her son was out sick Thursday so he had no note. His driver told him more than a week ago, however, that there would be no bus transportation to Shields today, she said.

"This information was out there," Turner said, although she said an array of district staff denied they knew anything about it when she called. "They could have gotten information to parents earlier.

"It could have made a difference," Turner said. "Parents could have made an informed decision."

How accurate the information they got Thursday is a question. Turner's husband, Tim, who has been substitute teaching at Lennard High all week, said an announcement was made at the school Thursday of buses canceled and his daughter at Lennard brought home a letter with the list of bus cancellations at school. But Lennard had no buses on the district list.

School staffing numbers also continued to change Thursday, some for the better.

A survey of teachers Tuesday showed 35 out of 57 teachers at Madison Middle School planned to take a leave day. By Thursday, only seven planned to be off, said Lewis Brinson, assistant superintendent for administration.

"We've had teachers come to principals and say they changed their mind," Brinson said. "They thought it was a hardship on the teachers who are going to be there... They were letting their colleagues down."

Just eight district staff who volunteered to help had been recruited by schools as of late Thursday, Brinson said. Three will teach at Blake High, two at Stewart Middle and one at Eisenhower Middle. Two district clerical staff also will help at Eisenhower, where only one of seven clerical staff members planned to be at school today, he said.

As to reports from students and parents that today will be filled with non-academics including movies and a field day, Brinson said that is not the plan. "If I find out there's a field day, that's one school I'm going to visit," Brinson said.

Schools are to be open from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. or until all students leave so that more parents can drive students to and from school.

Schools will provide breakfast and lunch, but menus will vary, said Mary Kate Harrison, the district's general director, student nutrition. At least one person has been assigned to each location with substitutes and staff from other schools filling in, she said.

"It's kind of like when you staff our shelters for hurricanes," she said. "I sent them an e-mail that said, 'Do the best you can.'"

The district will gather data on absences for planning future calendars. In 2008-09, Good Friday falls during spring break, but school board members have said they want a secular calendar that does not recognize religious holidays as such.

One board member, April Griffin, said Thursday that she is hearing both from parents who want the day off and those who don't.

"Good Friday is not a federal holiday," she said. "A lot of people have to work, a lot of people have problems with day care if they don't have the day off. There are two sides to this.

"I'm going to have to collect more than two years' data," Griffin said. "One year's data is not enough for me."

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

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