Parents Seek Monitors on School Buses

Faced with a flurry of complaints regarding having pre-kindergartners riding school buses together with older children, school officials have added an option in Apalachicola to reassure those parents concerned about student safety and security.

Robert Coursey, the district's transportation coordinator, said that beginning Monday, Sept. 22, a bus will travel from the former Chapman School in Apalachicola, leaving at 7:15 a.m. and featuring a bus monitor aboard.

"This bus will be available for those parents that would rest easier having their child on a bus with an adult monitor along with the regular driver," said Coursey, noting that parents who drop their children off in the morning for the Chapman bus will need to supervise those students until the bus arrives.

The same would be true in the afternoon, when the bus returns the students to Chapman at about 3:20 p.m. to meet the parents.

The district's move comes in a response to a lengthy discussion at the Sept. 4 meeting, when several parents confronted the school board with concerns about the safety of these pre-kindergartners.

"One child sat in another child's lap all the way to the new school," said Lafayette Martin. "It's a liability."

Tanicia Pugh, who has a 4-year-old who rides the bus to the voluntary pre-kindergarten program at the former Brown Elementary School in Eastpoint, said she knew of two pre-k students who got mixed up as to which bus to ride during transfers at the new consolidated school.

Of the district's 73 pre-kindergartners, 12 ride in on buses from Carrabelle, 14 from Eastpoint and 17 from Apalachicola, and each is taken to the new school, where they then board a bus that delivers them to the former Brown Elementary campus.

"Four-year-olds shouldn't be on the bus with the older kids," she said.

Coursey told the school board that initially the district hoped to have three separate buses transporting only pre-k students, but logistics dictated these routes be conducted only after the regular school population bus runs were complete.

It was later determined this brought the pre-k students to school too late for them to have sufficient class time, and the idea was abandoned in favor of having them ride with older students on the 16 regular routes.

"They were just not getting any instruction time," Chairman Jimmy Gander told the audience, noting that state law does not require the district to transport pre-k students to school.

 "When you send us your child, you send us your very best," he said. "But we can't pull a rabbit out of a hat."

Alma and James Pugh both urged the district to consider adding bus monitors to ensure safety and order.

"What is the supervision on the bus for all the children? That's unreasonable to ask of a bus driver," said Alma Pugh.

"There have been fights on the bus. Something needs to be done as soon as possible, before someone gets hurt," added James Pugh.

"What happens if a fight starts?" asked Granville Crooms. "You can't take your eyes off the road."

Superintendent Jo Ann Gander addressed the issue. "One of the first things that bus drivers learn is if you have a kid standing up, you don't move that bus," she said.

One of the bus drivers, Bonnie Jones, rose to address the school board, reiterating the point that drivers can only do so much to control unruly students.

"We do need help on the bus for the children," she said. "I'm only a bus driver. When we put them together, we need help, supervision other than the bus driver."

Jones said she at one point had 63 students on a bus with seat space for 53 students. "We had to double them up," she said.

"Buses are designed to go three to a seat," noted Coursey.

Board Member David Hinton suggested the administration consider assigning seats, although that idea did not find supporters.

Responding to a question from Jimmy Gander as to why complaints did not appear forthcoming from parents in Eastpoint and Carrabelle, Superintendent Jo Ann Gander said parents of Apalachicola elementary students are accustomed to being within walking distance of their neighborhood school.

"It's the first time kids are being bused from Apalachicola," she said.

The board batted around ideas as to how address the issue, balancing the possible cost of adding bus monitors to all 16 routes with concerns about safety and fears of further cutting into the school day. Volunteer monitors, or paid people from the community, were among the suggestions.

In her remarks, Monica Moron noted that stepped-up busing, which can mean a student rides a bus from about 7 to 8 a.m., and another hour in the afternoon, has already posed challenges.

"For a 4-year-old, that's a long day," she said. "I'm not crazy, sending out my child in the pouring rain to catch a bus."

Nina Marks, dean of the Franklin County Middle and High schools, said she believed "it's not a safe situation" and urged the board to act to alleviate fears.

Two monitors who last year rode on the express routes, Betty Shiver and Allison Brown, stepped forward to volunteer their services.

While the superintendent expressed concern that the cost of having paid monitors on all 16 routes could be expensive, it was decided to take it one bus at a time and see how it worked out.

"There's some things you can't afford not to do," said Jimmy Gander, noting that the state only covers a portion of the students who ride the bus, including only about half of those who used to ride buses to school in Apalachicola.

"It's a service," he said. "But nonetheless we're elected to do that."

Coursey said Monday that the bus for pre-k that starts Sept. 22 is an option, but will not replace the current regular bus route system.

"If a parent wishes, they may still have their volunteer pre-k child picked up on the regular school bus route with the understanding that there will not be an adult monitor on that bus while en route to the Franklin County School," he said.

Coursey also asked concerned parents to telephone 653-9810 is they have questions about bus routes. "We are trying to make the transition for volunteer pre-k as safe, secure and economical as possible," he said.

In other business at the meeting, Marilyn Reynolds, who taught at Apalachicola High School before moving over to Franklin County High School, retired earlier this month after 35 years of teaching, 17 in the county. Reynolds was on hand at the Sept. 4 school board to receive a plaque of appreciation.