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Director of troubled school bus system resigns

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published June 14, 2005

The director of Pinellas County's embattled school bus system is resigning to accept a similar job in neighboring Manatee County.

Terry Palmer, the Pinellas school district's transportation director, will start work July 11 as assistant transportation director in Manatee, a much smaller district. Pinellas schools superintendent Clayton Wilcox named assistant transportation director Tony Dzielski as Palmer's interim replacement.

Wilcox recently hired Dzielski, a retired Navy captain, as part of a major reorganization of the district's bus system.

Wilcox could not be reached for comment, but he thanked Palmer and wished him well Monday in an e-mail.

Palmer became Pinellas' transportation director in May 2001, leading the massive task of ushering in the district's new choice plan.

The plan required more routes, buses and drivers, yet it coincided with budget cuts, which limited Palmer's ability to make changes. This year, his department was rocked by the deaths of two students.

Rebecca McKinney, a junior at Clearwater High, was struck and killed in October as she tried to cross McMullen-Booth Road after exiting a school bus. In February, Brooke Ingoldsby, a third-grade student at James B. Sanderlin Elementary in St. Petersburg, was killed while trying to cross Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N after a school bus dropped her off.

In both instances, the girls were dropped off in violation of a district directive that students not be assigned to stops that require them to cross major roads. In the ensuing investigation, hundreds of routes were found to be in violation of the policy. Wilcox ordered a reorganization of Palmer's department.

Palmer said Monday he felt "outstanding" about his new job.

He said the move to a job with less responsibility in a smaller county was for personal reasons. He said he was not asked to resign.

Manatee offers bus service to about 15,000 students, one-third the number in Pinellas. Before coming to Pinellas, Palmer directed the transportation department for Lee County schools.

He is the second top Pinellas schools official to leave for Manatee County in recent months.

Longtime School Board attorney John Bowen, a leading figure in developing the choice plan, will leave Pinellas in early July to represent the Manatee School Board.

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 01:24:19]