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Elia Apologizes Again For Bus Schedule Confusion

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2008

Updated: 09/02/2008 11:32 pm

TAMPA - Hillsborough Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia apologized again at her first town meeting Tuesday for this year's lack of communication about changing bus stops and too few phone lines for questions.

"We need to do a better job giving information to parents and our principals next year," Elia said. The plan is to get bus stop information out for 2009-10 before this school year ends.

Buses are still crowded and late, Elia said, but, "Now parents can get through — sometimes between two and four minutes, but they can get through."

Elia's first of seven town hall meetings was at Hillsborough High School with an audience of 60-plus, made up almost entirely of principals and other district administrators.

"I'm really appalled at the lack of community attendance at this meeting," school board member Jack Lamb scolded before four parents got up to complain about bus problems and a lack of communication about Tuesday's meeting.

Susan Edgerley, who said buses were so full that "kids were falling out of the seats," thanked the district for responding to her bus problems after no communication before school had started. She then took Elia to task for poorly communicating Tuesday's town meeting, suggesting the district use its automated phone messaging system in the future.

Another mother, Diane Fenimore, said, "Honestly, transportation is our huge issue still … a lot of our parents have given up." Her daughter is on a bus for about two hours, she said, to get home from Robinson High to northwest Tampa. Some parents are taking their children out of the International Baccalaureate program because of transportation, she said.

"I found out from the school where her stop was, but they didn't know what time," Fenimore said. "That's kind of continuing to this day."

The district's new transportation plan started in south Hillsborough last year and expanded to three other areas this year. It is supposed to increase efficiency and save money by placing bus stops farther apart and eliminating buses for most students who live less than two miles from school and those who attend many after-school programs.

The district has had more problems this year with the lack of communication and more students affected.

Although the transportation center is no longer open weekends, staff have been returning calls and working weekends, Elia said: "We've been there 'round the clock."

Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero and other administrators have been visiting bus stops deemed dangerous by parents. Some of those have been changed, Otero said.

Elia noted that parents of "about 1 percent of the number of students being transported made calls today to transportation." About 90,000 students ride a bus.

Last week Jack Davis, the administrator overseeing the transportation department, signed retirement papers, effective this Friday. Officials said it was for heath reasons. He makes $129,920 a year.

John Franklin remains in charge of the day-to-day operations of the transportation department. He makes $96,625.

Even before classes started Aug. 18, Elia apologized for not getting information to parents sooner. The district's transportation call center was opened from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. through the weekend before school started, but phone lines remained jammed through the next week and beyond.

Elia's annual town meetings can deal with any subject. A year ago, transportation was the hot topic in south Hillsborough with the new transportation plan.

The remainder of this year's 7 p.m. meetings are:

Monday — Burns Middle School, 615 Brooker Road, Brandon

Tuesday — Coleman Middle School, 1724 S. Manhattan Ave., Tampa

Sept. 11 — King High School, 6815 N. 56th St., Tampa

Sept. 15 — Mulrennan Middle School, 4215 Durant Road, Valrico

Sept. 23 — Pierce Middle School, 5511 N. Hesperides St., Tampa

Sept. 30 — Brandon High School, 1101 Victoria St., Brandon

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

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