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Schools see bus troubles subside

After a prolonged rough patch, the Pinellas school bus system makes progress in safety, promptness and responsiveness.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published June 11, 2006

LARGO - After three straight semesters of doom and gloom dating back to fall 2004, the Pinellas school bus system has come upon better times.

The evidence: Nothing has happened.

That counts as progress after a dark period marked by two student deaths, troubling revelations that parental complaints were routinely ignored and a major fix last year that improved safety but made more buses late.

From January to the end of school last month, 96 percent of Pinellas buses arrived at school before the first bell of the morning. Eighty-five percent of afternoon buses ran on time - a flawed but respectable performance given driver shortages, rush hour traffic and inevitable mishaps that lose time and cascade through the schedule as the day wears on.

Staffers at the district's call center finally caught up with the backlog of complaints that began in August when more than 6,500 callers jammed the lines.

By late January, officials say, angry calls had given way to mostly routine inquiries about next year's bus routes.

What's more, no student was seriously hurt or mishandled in a way that made news on cable TV.

"I think we have attended to the things that were broken,'' said school superintendent Clayton Wilcox. "I think those things that were systemic failures were corrected."

He noted, however, that the dynamics that make student transportation difficult have not gone away: the school choice plan, which stretches the Pinellas bus system to its limits; ever-changing road conditions; and the fact that many families move, requiring constant route changes.

"I think we're always going to be refining our system," Wilcox said.

The bus drivers union, never shy about pointing to problems, more or less agrees.

Safety is highly improved, said bus driver Bill Angelus, chief steward for Local 1220 of the Service Employees International Union.

In response to the bus-related traffic deaths of 16-year-old Rebecca McKinney and 8-year-old Brooke Ingoldsby during the 2004-05 school year, Wilcox reorganized the transportation department. The district also added about 40 routes, moved thousands of bus stops off busy roads and added 3,000 stops.

The changes proved to be tough medicine for a system already strained by a shortage of drivers. They led to longer routes and a problem with late buses that lasted into December.

Across the county, Wilcox said, bus rides lengthened by about 10 minutes on average.

"I would say it's improved,'' Angelus said of the system. "But I would say it's not totally fixed.''

Much will depend on the district's ability to hire enough bus drivers by the start of classes, Aug. 8.

One reason the second half of the school year went so smoothly was the district managed to increase its bus driving corps to 814 drivers - up from 767 at the start of the year. Angelus said that meant fewer instances of drivers having to pick up uncovered routes on short notice, an all-too-frequent emergency that causes serious delays.

But only 780 drivers have said they will return this fall, said Rick McBride, manager of transportation services. He said the district will try to hire as many as 100 drivers over the summer to cover routes and account for leaves and sickness.

Nine potential drivers are in the training pipeline, McBride said. Another 94 have applied, he said, but 75 percent will likely wash out because they won't meet the district's qualifications or they will decide they don't want to deal with student discipline.

The art of handling unruly students while driving a bus is a big part of the 40 hours of training new drivers receive. Recently, the district started to expose applicants to live bus conditions much earlier so little time is wasted training people who are unsuited for that part of the job.

Starting bus drivers in Pinellas make $10 to $12 an hour. They work three or four hours in the morning and three or four in the afternoon, with about two hours of unpaid down time in between.

The district helps drivers obtain a commercial driver's license.

Pinellas has budgeted for 853 drivers, but finding that many has been difficult. The district is competing with other employers in a market where the unemployment rate is 3 percent. Many districts across the nation face the same problem.

For about the same wage, someone could work as a customer service representative, a construction laborer or in retail sales, said Ed Peachey, executive director of WorkNet Pinellas, an organization that works to match employers with career seekers.

He said of the bus system this summer: "I'm sure they're going to struggle to find people who are qualified.''

In addition to finding new drivers, Angelus said, the district needs to address student behavior. Many drivers have called for stronger action on the part of school administrators.

Angelus recalled an afternoon fight on his bus two years ago between two fifth-graders. When he returned the students to their school to be disciplined, an assistant principal told them to "make better choices" and placed them back on the bus, Angelus said.

The administrator appears to have used the kind of approach called for in district training. But Angelus said: "I'm saying to myself, 'I need to transfer from this school quick.' " He argued it would have been better to call the students' parents and let them drive them home.

Discipline in schools and on school buses is a complex, emotional issue. Each situation is different, and the adult world remains fundamentally divided on the right course.

Some adults would agree with Angelus' remedy in the case of the two fifth-graders; others would agree with the assistant principal's approach.

Nagged by a general sense that student behavior in schools and on buses has worsened, the School Board will address discipline in two workshops this summer.

"I believe that as a board we need to crack down,'' member Jane Gallucci said at the board's last workshop.

Another issue facing the bus system is leadership.

After transportation director Tony Dzielski left for another job recently, Wilcox appointed Clearwater High School principal Nick Grasso as interim director. But when some School Board members said they wanted a career transportation expert in the post, Wilcox agreed to a regional or national search.

The search could take months, but Angelus said the transportation department's top managers - including its three area managers - are well-positioned to run the system until a new director is found. "It should be fine,'' he said.

Wilcox agreed.

"We're willing to be patient,'' he said, "because we've got good people here and people who have got their eyes on the ball.''

[Last modified June 11, 2006, 05:21:05]