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LORRI HELFANDThe transit authority plans to stop Route 94 because it serves mostly students, but some parents depend on it to get their children to Coachman Fundamental Middle School.
CLEARWATER - Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority plans to end a route that carries at least 75 children to and from Coachman Fundamental Middle School.
The decision to eliminate the route by August upsets parents who rely on it.
"We feel a little helpless," said Victoria Smith, a Tarpon Springs parent. "Who would think you'd have to fight to get your kids to the school?"
While most of the parents at the 550-student school already carpool, the elimination of Route 94 is a hardship for some who live as far away as Tarpon Springs. The route primarily traverses Tarpon Springs along U.S. 19, Countryside Boulevard and Belcher Road to Coachman Fundamental.
Tammy Hazime, who lives in Tarpon Springs, said she's unable to drive her kids to school and doesn't want to trust their safety to other parents. "This affects the socioeconomic balance of the school," she said. "I'm a single mom. I have to work, and I can't get my kids there. I don't want to rely on someone else to get my kids there."
School and district officials have been prompted to explore other transportation options, including teaming up with Bay Area Commuter Services to create a carpooling database for Coachman Fundamental parents. It would be the first school ride-share partnership for the nonprofit commuter assistance agency, which serves Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.
The School Board attorney is looking at liability issues in the pilot carpool program because parents would be assuming responsibility for the transportation.
Smith, whose seventh-grade son attends Coachman Fundamental, said parents shouldn't have to worry about carpool liability or safety issues because the school district should provide transportation. "It's a dark road for Pinellas County schools when they start insisting on carpooling," Smith said.
On the other hand, several Coachman Fundamental parents oppose district-provided busing at their children's school. They fear it will mean a later start time at Coachman Fundamental, where classes begin at 8:40 a.m.
"Last spring, we went through the possible changing of the hours. Personally, I don't want to see that happen," said Anne Unger, a Clearwater parent whose seventh-grade daughter attends the school.
The Pinellas County School District has never provided busing for fundamental schools, but three years ago, the School Board voted to provide the service for fundamental students beginning August 2003.
Busing for fundamental schools was part of the federal court settlement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund that gave rise to the school choice plan.
In May, hundreds of parents protested when the district told them that providing bus service would mean later school start times.
As a result, the board voted 5-2 to end its promise of busing for students at the district's seven fundamental schools.
At the time, School Board member Linda Lerner voted against removing bus service. She said it violated the district's promise and discriminated against parents who could not afford to drive their children to fundamental schools.
Lerner's opinion hasn't changed. "It's my obligation as a School Board member to make sure everyone has equal access," Lerner said.
But School Board member Carol Cook, who helped facilitate the Bay Area Commuter Services partnership, said the majority of fundamental parents made it clear they didn't want district-provided transportation. "We thought we were doing them a favor by doing it and then found out they didn't want it," Cook said.
However, some parents do want it, Smith said. "If a hundred in the school are unhappy and feel we should get a bus, isn't that important?" Smith said.
While school start times are a hot-button issue for many, several parents affected by the bus route's elimination say start times don't matter or should not be tied to the busing issue at all.
Some parents say start times aren't the only reason they oppose district-provided busing.
They say driving kids to school is part of the responsibility they bought into when they chose a fundamental school, which stresses parent involvement, strict discipline and dress codes.
"I, as a parent, have had to provide transportation for my child," Unger said. "It's part of the commitment to the fundamental program."
Smith thinks that argument is unfair. "It doesn't make a better parent because you can drive your kids to school. It's a transportation issue," Smith said.
School administrators and district officials insist parents had plenty of time to make other transportation plans. Last school year, PSTA warned parents that the 2003-2004 school year would be the final year for Route 94.
"We knew PSTA was dropping us," said Assistant Principal Dave Rosenberger. "Parents were given last year and throughout this year to make a different choice."
But a lot of parents didn't take the warning seriously because PSTA had planned to eliminate the route several times before, Smith said.
During the years, PSTA executives have warned parents the route could end at any time. Federal funding guidelines say the routes should provide public transportation, not exclusively school bus service, and Route 94 serves primarily Coachman Fundamental students, PSTA executive director Roger Sweeney said.
Route 94 originally catered to business people, but those patrons vanished, leaving chiefly student riders.
In 2000, PSTA planned to end the route because the children's behavior had gotten out of hand. Kids were screaming, hanging out of windows and vandalizing the bus, drivers said.
PSTA agreed to continue the route after parents promised to keep their kids in line.
Then, last year, PSTA said it would eliminate the route this school year. But the service was extended another year after the district voted not to provide busing to fundamental schools.
"Part of the problem is that we're not allowed to do that kind of service. It was only done to get them past that one year," Sweeney said.
Sweeney insists the route must end because he doesn't want to begin service next fall, only to pull it and leave parents in the lurch.
Another route that serves Coachman Fundamental students will continue because it is widely used by the public.
Meanwhile, some Coachman Fundamental parents have explored private bus services. They now pay PSTA 75 cents for transportation each way.
But private companies may cost twice as much and could be prohibitive, especially for parents who have more than one child attending the school, Smith said.
With the elimination of Route 94, administrators and several parents say carpooling is a convenient option for those in a bind.
Bay Area Commuter Services, which is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, has already received about 150 applications from Coachman Fundamental parents who want to participate, said Sheila Martin, planner for the agency.
The agency has set up a private database for the school, which uses a carpool system organized by one of the parents.
Martin said her service's automated system is quicker, easier and doesn't rely on parent organizers, who will eventually leave the school when their children do.
But Smith is afraid that buying into the carpool system will let the school district off the hook and close the door on the possibility of district busing in the future.
"If we fall for the carpool now, do you think we're ever going to get a bus back?" Smith said.
Lorri Helfand can be reached at 727 445-4155 or at at lorri@sptimes.com