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Schools

Field trip ends with a long wait

School buses show up two hours late to pick up 126 fourth-graders.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published November 10, 2006

TAMPA - A day at the Florida Aquarium almost turned into a night on the street for 126 fourth-graders from Spring Hill's J.D. Floyd Elementary on Thursday.

A field trip two months in the planning went fine until 5 p.m., when the aquarium closed.

That's when the waiting began. The five school buses that teachers and chaperones expected to come pick up the students at 5 p.m. didn't show until just past 7 p.m., after the sun dropped along with the temperatures.

"We should have gotten hotels," teacher Lauren Hoffman joked mildly after the buses arrived.

Port Authority security officer James Robinson passed by the group at 5 p.m., then at 5:30 p.m. By 6 p.m., he decided to open the Cruise Terminal No. 3 holding area so that the children could have access to restrooms and a warmer place to wait.

"My phone bill is going to be $500!" said Bridget Roberts, one of 25 chaperones, who helped phone parents to let them know why their children were not back at the school by 6:30 p.m. as originally planned. "This is unacceptable."

Three Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies and two port security officers helped patrol the area while children sat and danced and played inside the terminal, their packed lunches empty since noon.

Ten-year-old Caitlyn Niedbala said the delay provided enough time to play tag, sing songs and, yes, even push each other.

"We've been waiting a long, long time," she said.

Linda Smith, director of transportation for Hernando County schools, said she wasn't exactly sure what caused the delay.

Bus drivers dropped the students off at the aquarium at 10:30 a.m., then returned to Spring Hill to run their normal routes, Smith said. She can't be sure until Monday what happened next, but Smith thinks the bus drivers did not head back to Tampa straight after finishing their routes, as parents and teachers expected them to do.

"It's very regrettable," Smith said. "We dropped the ball."

By the time the buses arrived, Hillsborough sheriff's Cpl. B.L. Taylor had contacted a nearby restaurant about donating food, but the kids headed for home before that occurred.

Aboard the buses, teachers counted heads, and the classes waved goodbye to Tampa and shouted loud thank-yous to the men in uniform.

Hoffman, the teacher, shook her head and said, "These parents are never going to let these children go on a field trip again."

[Last modified November 10, 2006, 07:11:08]