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Pasco County school bus driver Christal Ferrie's supporters claim that the district is overreacting to two dead and eight injured students in neighboring counties. Just how do they expect the district to react to dead and injured children? Would it be overreacting if their children were among the dead or injured? Do Ms. Ferrie's supporters' children ride on her bus?
Regardless of what bus drivers may have gotten away with in the past, it is the drivers' and the school district's responsibility to transport our children safely. Ms. Ferrie's citation by the Florida Highway Patrol was the third traffic incident within three weeks. That is not justification for dismissal? How many parents wish to entrust her with their children's lives on a daily basis? The district's position that Ms. Ferrie should not be driving a bus full of children is correct; it is not an overreaction. Is her job really more important than our children's lives?
I am appalled that the United School Employees of Pasco would even entertain the notion that someone with Ms. Ferrie's record should be allowed to continue transporting our most precious cargo.
For the sake of all our children, I fervently hope that superintendent Heather Fiorentino and Terry Rhum stick to their guns on this issue. Please stop Ms. Ferrie (and any other unsafe bus drivers) before Pasco is next to suffer the school bus tragedies of neighboring counties.
This whole thing has gotten out of hand. I do not know the whole story, so I will not support either side. But to be fair to a fellow school bus driver, I think firing her before all other avenues are explored is harsh and unfair.
Can't she be reassigned somewhere else in the school district so she can keep her benefits? Then maybe she can work her way back as a driver if she does well and is retrained. Is she being used as the scapegoat? Are they silently warning the rest of us we can be next?
Editor's note: Bus driver Christal Ferrie turned down a transfer to a lower-paying job, according to school district administrators.
I feel that there should be no debate as to whether Christal Ferrie, the reckless bus driver, should have her employment terminated.
The accident for which there were no eyewitnesses involved my grandmother. She was driving to a restaurant less than two miles from her home when she was hit by a school bus.
My grandmother now has no vehicle, as she is too shaken up by the incident to drive anymore. She is completely dependent on other people to take her where she needs to go. A simple trip to a restaurant near her house has left her completely traumatized and not wanting to drive.
The article mentions that Ferrie is a single mother of three. Would she want her children on a bus driven by someone like her? Would she really feel comfortable knowing that the bus driver with which she is trusting her children's lives is running red lights and having such impatience as to cut off an old woman in an effort to make a green arrow?
There is no debate here. Students and their parents should feel comforted knowing that the ride to school and back home will be a safe one.
If Ferrie can't handle driving a school bus in a cautious manner, then maybe it's in the best interest of everyone to let her go.
Should any school bus driver the district determined to have been negligent in his or her duties, not have operating privileges immediately revoked and later be involved in an accident, then liability is assured and the taxpayers (not the drivers union) get stuck with paying the award.
Remember, these drivers are carrying our children, and who among us with children being transported by the school district would really remain comfortable knowing that the officials we elect and expect to protect our children are unable to make the necessary decisions because they are being browbeaten and belittled in public by a group of people who believe they are indispensable?
Who is in charge? Is it us, the taxpayers who provide the money that pays these drivers and elects individuals who we believe will best serve our interests? Or are the employees in charge? I believe the School Board should either stand up for what's right and fire the driver in question, Or better still, dissolve the need for these unhappy bus drivers and put the entire school transportation issue out for private bid.
No matter what we do, at the very least we must support those who we have elected to represent us and our children.
Re: Judge's decision fair on too-tall playhouse, April 6 editorial.
Your editorial lacks the detail behind the Gulf Harbors Woodlands' case to allow a fair and accurate assessment. The more pressing concern is not if the Johnsons were in violation of the deed restrictions, it is the manner the board of directors handled a community affair. The board is partly to blame for this violation. It gave the Johnsons a verbal approval over the phone, thus ignoring rules that require a written request with images of the swing set prior to any approval.
It was only after the swing set was erected the board realized it had erred and demanded its removal. Because this was the first swing set of this type erected in our community and because more children are moving into our community, residents proposed a sensible solution, give the Johnsons a three-month variance and bring to a community vote the allowance of such sets. But the board refused to act on this and other recommendations. In December, disgusted with the board's behavior, the membership submitted a petition in accordance with our bylaws demanding this community vote. Again the board ignored its membership and refused to bring this vote to the membership.
This board unnecessarily spent over $50,000 of this community's funds on recent lawsuits and has placed its community at risk for more litigation. It has consumed our budget making it necessary to remove amenities residents pay for and diverted these funds into their legal vendettas.
The residents of this beautiful, waterfront community are working toward pulling in the reins on this board by using its bylaws and Florida law. I see hopeful signs we will succeed in the near future.
As a resident of Beacon Woods, I would like to state that though a Wal-Mart would be convenient, and I do support their efforts to expand into northwest Pasco, I am adamantly opposed to allowing it access to Beacon Woods Drive and Clock Tower. I understand the desire for an easy exit/entry point, with a traffic signal, but this would degrade the quality of life in Beacon Woods.
It would encourage use of a side route to State Road 52 via Clock Tower and Majestic Boulevard - leading past our community center. This would make it very inconvenient and potentially dangerous for all the residents using the center.
What if the county were to move the current signal at Beacon Woods Drive north up U.S. 19, to function as solely a light for Wal-Mart? Beacon Woods Drive would need to be made "right-turn only" onto 19, but with two other exits from Beacon Woods with traffic signals, there are plenty of alternatives to making a left on 19.
This would eliminate the need to use Beacon Woods Drive for an exit, and also deter Wal-Mart shoppers by limiting access to this road. This may solve the problem and end the debate!
I do not believe that the Pet Aid Service Society should get any government money, as I'm not sure what it does there. I have supported its thrift shop for years.
Now, as a senior living below the poverty level, I picked up a kitten on the street. After six or seven unreturned calls to PASS I called the thrift shop and was assured someone would call me. No one ever did and I had to take the kitten to a veterinarian and pay full price.
Maybe it's doing something else out there. I know I won't shop with it anymore.
Re: Neighbors signal sex offender alert, March 31.
I have a few questions to ask: Did anyone really research this story? Did you know that the judge who oversaw this case said, "Son, it is very rarely I see a success story come across my desk. You son are a success and a very low risk to ever repeat, congratulations!"
James Craine was let off probation two years early. He now, at the suggestion of the Pasco County Sheriff's Department, has surveillance cameras on his property to protect himself and his property.
I intend to do everything within my power to either get my son's name off the Internet or get this mess in his neighborhood straightened out so he can feel safe and comfortable in his home.
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