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Hillsborough Parents Tell Elia Of Bus Stop Hazards

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By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

TAMPA - June Leland and Kathy Walsh want to know why their 16-year-old daughters are assigned to a bus stop more than two miles from their Davis Islands homes that includes crossing busy streets plus a bridge before daybreak.

"The whole thing is so absurd to me, it's mind-boggling," says Leland, who says she has no alternative but to drive her daughter to the bus stop.

Parents like Leland and Walsh are still grappling with the Hillsborough County School District's new transportation plan, which cut bus stops to save time and money but raised a ton of safety issues.

With easy access via online databases, parents can identify sexual offenders and predators in neighborhoods and on the way to bus stops and cite them as safety hazards. Those aren't the hazards, they say.

Walsh describes the wait in Wilson Middle's parking lot at 6:25 a.m. when it's her turn to carpool.

"The sprinklers at the school come on and a man rustles out of the bushes, unzips his pants and urinates, defecates, zips up and goes on.

"I keep the door locked and engine running," Walsh said. "We're not shutting the motor off."

The mothers were among six parents with children at Robinson High School's International Baccalaureate program with transportation complaints for Superintendent MaryEllen Elia on Tuesday night at her meeting at Coleman Middle School.

"We really have to think about the kids — put them first," said Mudra Kumar, who has two children attending the program. Like others, their transportation to the school requires long trips to a bus stop that they didn't count on when they signed up for the special magnet program two to three years ago.

Elia responded that parents made a decision two years ago to place bus stops at Wilson and other schools, then go directly to Robinson rather than have their children take a bus to a transportation hub first.

"I don't recall a single meeting," Kumar told Elia. "I was just told, 'This is the arrangement.' "

Callers Down To 600

Even before classes started Aug, 18, district officials knew they had a transportation mess with both a new plan that cuts bus service in at least half of the district combined with late notice to parents, schools and drivers. Not enough phone lines or staff to respond made it worse.

Parents are still waiting for return calls and bus stop changes, but the number of callers was down to 600 on Monday, said Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero.

The district cut most of its courtesy busing this year for families living less than two miles from their school. The state requires bus service be provided for students living two miles or more from school. Elementary students living closer may qualify for transportation for documented safety hazards such as no sidewalks or heavy traffic.

Students are also not supposed to walk more than a mile and a half to a bus stop.

Morning, Afternoon Buses Different

The mothers of the Robinson High students say the district is breaking state law by placing their bus stop more than two miles from their homes. For the past two years, the girls have taken a bus from their neighborhood to Plant High, where they caught a bus to Robinson. Buses pick up students for Plant High in the neighborhood and drop off Leland's and Walsh's daughters near home in the afternoon.

Dropping off a student at a different stop from where he or she is picked up is also against new district rules, Leland points out.

Walsh said they were given no bus stop at all until the second week of school, then told to be at an intersection on Davis Islands at 4:47 a.m. When no bus showed up, they complained and were given the Wilson Middle stop.

"I looked it up — within three miles of Wilson there are 136 sexual offenders," Leland said. On any given night, "there are a number of people sleeping under the bridge."

A bus stop is moved if it's within 1,000 feet from the home of a category of sexual predator, the same as a requirement for a school, said Otero. Some categories of sexual predators and sexual offenders have no restrictions, he said, but the district considers individual cases.

No decisions were made Tuesday night for the parents with bus concerns, said John Franklin, the district's transportation chief, but all will be reviewed.

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

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