GCPS E-Mail Disclaimer Addendum

Note: First discovered in this autoresponse…

—– Original Message —–

From: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us>

To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net>

Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 4:01 PM

Subject: Grant Reppert/Transportation/GCPS is out of the office.

I will be out of the office starting 03/06/2008 and will not return until
03/10/2008.

please contact Karen Stanow through email or phone to receive
transportation assistance.

————————————————————————————————

NOTE: Email is provided to employees for the instructional and
administrative needs of the district. E-mail correspondence to/from
a district e-mail account may be considered public information and
subject to release under Georgia laws or pursuant to subpoena.

————————————————————————————————

February GCPS BOE Meeting Minutes

Martin Weingarten – Mr. Weingarten asked the Board to require that a contingency plan be implemented and widely publicized for when bus drivers fail to pick up students at a bus stop.

Click here to download the PDF file of the February 14, 2008 GCPS BOE meeting minutes.

Request For BOE Follow-up

—– Original Message —–

From: <Lydia_Girolami@gwinnett.k12.ga.us>

To: <mweingarten@earthlink.net>

Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 2:13 PM

Subject: Fw: Questions Regards Concerns Expressed Before The Board

> Mr. Weingarten, I am the person you should contact with Board inquiries. I
> have forwarded your message to Bobby Crowson, associate superintendent for
> Academic Support. The transportation department falls under the
> responsibility of his division.
>
> Thank you.

 > —– Forwarded by Lydia Girolami/Superintendent’s Office/GCPS on
> 02/27/2008 01:59 PM —–
>
> “M. Weingarten”
> <mweingarten@eart
> hlink.net> To
> <Lydia_Girolami@gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
> 02/27/2008 01:43 cc
> PM
> Subject
> Questions Regards Concerns
> Please respond to Expressed Before The Board
> “M. Weingarten”
> <mweingarten@eart
> hlink.net>

> Hello -
>
> I spoke before the board at the February 14th GCPS BOE monthly meeting. I
> concluded my statement with a request that the board examine my concerns
> and
> assist in facilitating a resolution.
>
> Does the board report back to groups or individuals who express a concern
> before them? Do they report back publicly regarding requests made before
> them?
>
> You are the only e-mail contact I have for the BOE, should you feel that I
> need to address this to another, please provide specifics and I will do so.
>
> Thank you very much in advance.
>
> Martin Weingarten
> mweingarten@earthlink.net

Statement To GCPS BOE – February 14, 2008

My purpose is to bring attention to an omission of policy and language in the GCPS Student/Parent Handbook and its safety implications as it applies to county transportation. The issues I describe have occurred in our neighborhood on three separate occasions within a nine month period of time. I will provide the board with support documentation to corroborate my statements.

The current handbook has two pages dedicated to county expectations of students as it applies to transportation. The county makes it clear as to what it expects from students and parents with respects to our obligations to transportation, but no mention of its obligation to ensure that all children be picked up from their respective stops.

Unforeseen circumstances might cause a delayed arrival, but to allow for an extended delay or to completely abandon its obligation to pick up children, for any conceivable reason, without policy, reference material and a published contingency plan is unacceptable.

Specific language and policy regarding transportation anomalies is needed in all subsequent handbooks in the same explicit detail that is currently used to describe other transportation policies. If it is physically possible to get a bus onsite, to an assigned stop, there is no excuse not to, or at least have corrective measures in place in the event of a transportation problem. This language then needs to be married to a realistic, published contingency plan that can be easily and quickly implemented in the event of a problem. The alternative to this is to believe that the county requires children and their parents to be responsible for getting those missed children to school, on time, by any means necessary should the county fail to meet its obligation. If this is the county’s position it should be published in all future handbooks so that unsuspecting children and parents will know what’s expected of them.

To illustrate, I’ll cite one specific example that has happened to our neighborhood and from what I gather is not an unusual occurrence,… a missed pick up by a substitute bus driver. Should a driver miss a stop, but deliver the rest of the students on time, to the designated school and without incident, no one is aware of a problem. The driver doesn’t realize their error and since there is no attendance taken a bus, the school and the county are completely unaware of the error. This leaves however many children of whatever age left stranded at a bus stop, waiting for a bus that will never arrive and forced to make uninformed decisions beyond their means.

The school system, at its highest levels of administration, is aware that extended delays and missed pickups occur on a regular basis, is aware that children are left abandoned on the curbside and realizes that there is no policy to reference in its handbook nor county sanctioned corrective measures available to parents to reconcile the situation.

Over the past 16 months I have worked the appropriate GCPS chain of command in an attempt to correct these issues. I have been repeatedly told that my position has merit and that a change in policy is warranted but by virtue of the fact that no change was made to this year’s handbook, I can only conclude that I have been unsuccessful with my attempts to affect positive, tangible change.

I ask that the school board address these oversights and trust it to take corrective action to ensure the future safety and well-being of the county’s school bus riders.

E-Mail From Phil Duffy – Executive Director – Operations

—– Original Message —–
From: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: mweingarten@earthlink.net
Cc: Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Cindy_Loe@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: Transportation concerns

Mr. Weingarten:

In response to your questions for me in your e-mail of 2/1/08, my closing statement was merely observing that, based on my investigations since I became aware of your concerns, there is simply not a history of chronic failure on our part to safely deliver children to school.    We strive for perfection as our 1700+ buses make over 80,000 bus stops each day and believe we accomplish that task safely and well.  Our backup processes work, despite, regrettably, your experiences to the contrary.

As I have communicated to you previously,  I agree with you that we have failed to adequately document our process for parent/student reaction to real time pickup/delivery issues and that we will address that oversight in the next edition of the Student/Parent Handbook.  Progress continues on assuring school phones will be answered consistent with that process and your specific Parkview HS situation has been addressed.

You commented in your e-mail that a missed pickup “…leaves however many children of whatever age left unattended…”.   Children’s safety at a bus stop when no bus is present has always been, and clearly must remain, a parental responsibility no matter when the bus arrives.

Based on your input & help, we are making an improvement in our transportation processes for the benefit of our children.

Regards,
Phil Duffy

Correspondence Exchange With Phil Duffy – Executive Director – Operations

—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Cc: Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Cindy_Loe@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: Transportation Concerns

Thank you for your e-mail. I would like to ask you for clarification of your closing statement and then I would like to share with you, and those GCPS officials you chose to copy, a few items that I find interesting.

First, your statement, “It is interesting to us that we cannot remember having this problem before.” Please clarify, are you all referring to parents/students not being able to make contact with their school, having children stranded at a bus stop, that I’m the only parent in the entire county that has experienced and expressed this particular concern, or exactly what were you inferring? I sincerely don’t understand because it has happened to our neighborhood three times recently and I have been very vocal about it all levels. Additionally, I have a quote from Mr. Reppert on 04/26/07 stating, “The event you describe in your email occurs monthly somewhere within the county.” I can only take your statement to suggest that in your estimation, I’m the lone pain-in-the-*$$ who has pursued the issue.

Now, here are a few items that I find interesting:
1. You and I have had numerous correspondence via e-mail and not once have you copied anyone else.
2. I contacted you, per your invitation, on 01/17/08 to follow-up and ask for clarification of a previous correspondence and it took you a week to reply to me and that was only after I contacted you a second time asking for a response.
3. You’ve never sent me a proactive message like this before.
All of this occurs two days after successfully petitioning the school board for an opportunity to speak before it and express my concerns. I mentioned to most of you that this was my very intent and course of action in the event I could not resolve the concerns otherwise. I take this message of yours that I’m responding to be very disingenuous, condescending and typical of the correspondence I’ve experienced with GCPS – that is when the GCPS officials I’ve contacted have bothered to get back with me as I have been ignored on many occasions.

I would like to ask you to directly answer a very specific question: Do you believe that the concerns that I’ve been addressing with you and other GCPS officials over the past year and a half or so to be legitimate ones? I would ask that you please elaborate in detail and explain your position as you believe it should be.

In its 2007-2008 Student/Parent Handbook (Stock# 90816), GCPS has two pages dedicated to county expectations of student behavior as it applies to county transportation. Page 39 is dedicated to intervention and consequences of behavioral issues. It’s these very same children who are left to their own devices when abandoned by a missed county school bus pick up. Do you not see the potential problem? What happens when one of these behavioral problems is left unattended, for an extended period of time, by a missed pick up and causes harm to another or has harm caused upon them. It won’t be pretty from a liability standpoint. As I have previously stated, if it hasn’t happened before, consider yourselves incredibly fortunate and if it’s not addressed it will only be a matter of time before it does occur. GCPS makes it abundantly clear as to what it expects from students and parents with respects to transportation, but not a single word about its obligation to ensure that all children be picked up from their respective stops.

I don’t know what you good folks think of my crusade, but I can assure you that it is a case of genuine concern for the safety and well-being of our kids. I would much rather spend my Valentine’s Day having dinner with my family than driving clear across the county to speak for three minutes before the school board. Ask your transportation staff, I have never once made a single complaint about a late pickup and there have been many. I understand that unforeseen circumstances might cause a delayed arrival, but to completely abandon your obligation to pick up children, for ANY reason, with no policy or plan in place to address it is unacceptable. I would suggest to you all that this issue should have been handled long ago, at a much lower level and without me having to suffer the grief and indignation that I’ve had to endure from GCPS officials.

Let me cite one specific example that has happened to us and from what I understand happens on a relatively frequent basis,… a missed pick up by a substitute bus driver. Human error. Understandable, but correctable and in my humble opinion preventable to a degree. Let’s say a substitute bus driver has ten stops and misses one. As long as that driver delivers the rest of the students on time, at the designated school and without incident, no one is the wiser. The substitute bus driver obviously doesn’t realize it and since there is no attendance taken of the children as they disembark, the school and the county are completely unaware of the error. This leaves however many children of whatever age left unattended and forced to make decisions beyond their means.

In my communications with GCPS officials it has been stated that technology needs to be thrown at the issue. I suggest to you that a ten dollar case of pencils will go a long way in correcting the issue. Have the substitute driver check off each stop of the route sheet as they pick up those kids. If performed as instructed, any error should quickly become evident. You could even go a step further and require that these route sheets be signed and turned in by the substitute driver for review.

In conclusion, let me again attempt to be clear about my desires – There needs to be specific language, policy, guidelines, etc. spelled out in all subsequent GCPS student/parent handbooks in the same sort of explicit detail that has be used to describe other transportation policies. This language needs to specifically address any sort of missed pick up, for ANY reason. If it is physically possible to get a bus onsite, to an assigned stop, there is absolutely no excuse not to, or at least have corrective measures in place in the event of a problem. This language then needs to be married to a realistic contingency plan that can be easily and quickly implemented in the event of a problem. The alternative to this is to believe that the county expects children and their parents to be responsible for getting those missed children to school, on time, by any means necessary. If this is indeed your position at least have the courage to spell it out in the next GCPS student/parent handbook so that unsuspecting children and parents will know what is expected of them.

Thank you, I look forward to your reply.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: mweingarten@earthlink.net
Cc: Charles_Buchanan@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Cindy_Loe@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; jim_steele@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:58 PM
Subject: Transportation Concerns

Just wanted you to know that we are continuing to work on your concerns about early morning communications to your school.  Here is a number you can use to get into Parkview HS in the early morning from about 5:30 a.m. on:  770-931-5696.  You should expect to talk to either Sabrina, Dave or whoever answers.  Additionally, we wanted to make sure you knew the number we gave you before, 770-513-6686 is our main transportation dispatch number.  If you need central services, they should be able to get to the right people and get you help as well.

Again let me thank you for working with us.  It is interesting to us that we cannot remember having this problem before.  Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Request Follow-up To Address GCPS BOE February 14, 2008

You’re welcome, Mr. Weingarten.  Comments are limited to three minutes, and
handouts for the Board  are fine.

Thanks.

“M. Weingarten”
<mweingarten@eart
hlink.net>                                                 To
<Lydia_Girolami@gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
01/31/2008 02:54                                           cc
PM
Subject
Re: Request to address Board on
Please respond to         February 14
“M. Weingarten”
<mweingarten@eart
hlink.net>

Thank you very much for your reply and assistance. Are there time
limitations imposed for speakers making their presentation before the
board?
Does the board accept corroborative documentation from those speaking?

Thank you -

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

Request Confirmation To Address GCPS BOE February 14, 2008

—– Original Message —–

From: <Lydia_Girolami@gwinnett.k12.ga.us>

To: <mweingarten@earthlink.net>

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 1:47 PM

Subject: Request to address Board on February 14

>
> This will confirm that your name has been added to the Monthly Business
> Meeting agenda for February 14, 2008.  The meeting will begin promptly at
> 7:00 p.m.  The Board chairman will proceed through the agenda.  The
> Citizens and Groups Addressing the Board section will be introduced
> following the call to order, invocation, pledge, approval of agenda,
> approval of minutes, and board recognitions, if any.  Please approach the
> podium when the chairman calls your name.
>
> Thank you.

Request To Address GCPS BOE February 14, 2008

—– Original Message —–

From: <Sloan_Roach@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us>

To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net>

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 12:01 PM

Subject: Re: February School Board Meeting

>I have received your request and have forwarded it to the Board secretary.
> She will be in touch with you to verify your placement on the agenda for
> the February School Board meeting.
>
> Sloan Roach
> Executive Director of Communication and Media Relations
> Gwinnett County Public Schools
> 437 Old Peachtree Road  NW, Suwanee, GA 30024-2978
> Telephone: (678) 301-6021 Fax: (678) 301-6030
> sloan_roach@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
>
>
>
>
>             “M. Weingarten”
>             <mweingarten@eart
>             hlink.net>                                                 To
>                                       <Sloan_Roach@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
>             01/28/2008 11:50                                           cc
>             AM
>                                                                   Subject
>                                       Re: February School Board Meeting
>             Please respond to
>              “M. Weingarten”
>             <mweingarten@eart
>                hlink.net>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank you for your prompt reply. This response to you will act as my
> official request as per your information provided below.
>
> My specific concern, in brief:
> There is no language in any of the GCPS Student/Parent handbooks that we
> have, including the current one, as to what needs to be done in the event
> GCPS is unable, for any reason, to get a GCPS bus onsite at the appointed
> time. The handbooks go on in great detail as to what GCPS expects from
> students and parents as it applies to transportation, but not a word as to
> what should happen in the event GCPS cannot meet its obligation.
>
> My reasons for wanting to address the board:
> This particular scenario has played out three times to the families of our
> neighborhood,… all within twelve calendar months. I have had much
> correspondence with GCPS officials including transportation management, an
> area superintendent, an associate superintendent, an executive director of
> operations and even a member of the board of education. I have been told by
>
> all that I have a legitimate concern, one that needs to be addressed and
> have received assurances and promises from all that the issue would be
> addressed. Thus far it has not.
>
> There has been so much correspondence that after being asked repeatedly by
> GCPS officials to quote correspondence from other GCPS officials, I finally
>
> found it necessary to create a website containing all correspondence
> related
> to the issue for reference purposes. As of this morning, Monday, January
> 28,
> 2008, I believe that it is current and up to date. You may review this
> website at the following web address:
> http://gcps.wordpress.com/
> or
> http://gcps.tk
>
> If you will read through the correspondence I believe that my source of
> frustration will become clear.
>
> Please do me the courtesy of acknowledging receipt of this message and
> detail what you will do with it.
>
> Thank you very much once again -
>
> Martin Weingarten
> mweingarten@earthlink.net
>
>
>
> —– Original Message —–
> From: <Sloan_Roach@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
> To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net>
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:02 AM
> Subject: Re: February School Board Meeting
>
>
>> Thank you for your suggestions. The Board of Education’s main address and
>> phone number appear on every page in the left hand navigator; however,
> you
>> have raised a good point and we will look to clarify it further on this
>> specific page.
>>
>> As for your request…. Typically, we need a brief description of your
>> topic. If the topic is tied to an incident, additional information is
>> helpful, including the school or cluster involved. You can fax your
>> request
>> to 678-301-6030 or you can email it to me and I can send it to the
>> appropriate staff member. You also can put the letter in the mail to:
>> Superintendent’s Office
>> Gwinnett County Public Schools
>> 437 Old Peachtree Road, NW
>> Suwanee, GA  30024-2978
>>
>> Once the information is received, one of our staff members follows up
> with
>> the person to let them know their request has been received and to
> provide
>> any further direction.
>>
>> Sloan Roach
>> Executive Director of Communication and Media Relations
>> Gwinnett County Public Schools
>> 437 Old Peachtree Road  NW, Suwanee, GA 30024-2978
>> Telephone: (678) 301-6021 Fax: (678) 301-6030
>> sloan_roach@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>             “M. Weingarten”
>>             <mweingarten@eart
>>             hlink.net>                                                 To
>>                                       <sloan_roach@gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
>>             01/28/2008 10:04                                           cc
>>             AM
>>                                                                   Subject
>>                                       February School Board Meeting
>>             Please respond to
>>              “M. Weingarten”
>>             <mweingarten@eart
>>                hlink.net>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Good Morning -
>>
>> I am writing with regards to information found on the GCPS BOE website (
>>
> http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/pages/BoardMeetings0~BoardofEducation
>
>> ). Specifically, I would like to address the board regarding ongoing
>> safety
>> concerns with respects to the GCPS transportation department.
>>
>> The following is copy from the website:
>>
>> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>> Procedures for Addressing the Board
>> The agenda is prepared in advance of each meeting. Anyone wishing to
> speak
>> before the Board should inform the Superintendent’s office in writing by
>> noon on the Monday prior to the Board meeting. Items for the agenda may
> be
>> suggested by any Board member, staff member, or citizen.
>>
>> Before each regular meeting, a public forum is held at 6:30 p.m. to allow
>> persons not on the agenda an opportunity to address the Board. Citizens
>> may
>> sign up at the Board meeting to speak during the 30-minute public forum
>> period. Speakers are asked to keep their comments brief, and no Board
>> action is taken.
>> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>>
>> …but it is not clear as to (1) how much detail is required, (2) to what
>> mailing address this request should go to, (3) to whose attention, (4)
>> whether an e-mail submission would be acceptable, (5) how I would be
>> notified that the request was received, (6) how I would be notified
>> whether
>> or not my request would be granted and finally (7) how I should proceed
>> should I be granted the opportunity to address the board.
>>
>> Please advise as to these questions and if I might, I would humble
>> recommend that the website be amended to address these items.
>>
>> Thank you very much in advance -
>>
>> Martin Weingarten
>> mweingarten@earthlink.net

E-Mail From Phil Duffy – Executive Director – Operations

—– Original Message —–
From: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: M. Weingarten
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07 (2) (2nd Attempt)

Mr Weingarten:
As my group (Facilities & Operations) is not involved with individual school practices, I am working on getting you a response.
Regards,
Phil Duffy

“M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net>
01/24/2008 11:01 AM Please respond to
“M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net>

To <Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us>
cc
Subject Re: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07 (2) (2nd Attempt)

Mr. Duffy -

Will your office or anyone from GCPS be responding to my request for clarification of your response with respects to my ongoing transportation concerns first sent to you one week ago? Please advise.

Thank you -
Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net
—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07 (2)

Mr. Duffy -

Thank you for your reply. If I am reading your response correctly, I have a question for you – It has been our personal experience, on more than one occasion, that when we have called the school – most recently Parkview High School – no one is there to answer the phone. At 6:30 AM all we receive is a voice mail stating that the phone won’t be answered until after 7:00 AM. How is this discrepancy to be addressed?

Thank you -

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: M. Weingarten
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 4:47 PM
Subject: Re: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07

Mr. Weingarten:
We will be adding language to our Student/Parent handbooks to advise parents what to do for immediate help in resolving current student pickup/delivery issues.  In those situations, the call needs to go to the student’s school and we did not have that documented in our handbooks.

Thank-you for bringing this oversight to our attention.   It will be addressed in the next handbook issue.

Regards,
Phil Duffy
Executive Director – Operations
Facilities & Operations
770-513-6674

E-Mail From Phil Duffy – Executive Director – Operations

—– Original Message —–
From: Phil_Duffy@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: M. Weingarten
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07

Mr. Weingarten:
I am in receipt of your e-mail of 11/15/07 and believe you have captured the essence of our discussion well.  I’ll be in touch.

Sincerely,
Phil Duffy
Executive Director – Operations
Facilities & Operations
770-513-6674

—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Phil_Duffy@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:45 AM
Subject: Telephone Call Of 11/13/07

Re: Telephone call of Tuesday evening, November 13, 2007 6:00 PM

Mr. Duffy -

Thank you for your phone call. While it’s still fresh in my mind I would like to recap the highlights of our conversation and allow you the opportunity to cite any errors or omissions on my part.

- You acknowledged that you reviewed and found that there was no language in the parent/student handbooks citing policy in the event of a transportation anomaly. You stated that there should be and that you were going to begin work to rectify the situation.

- When I questioned you on the human error issues, you stated that these needed to be addressed as well but asked if I would be amenable to allowing you to address the policy language issue first. I stated that this was fine with me.

- You stated that I could call you at you office number and follow up as to the progress of the situation at any time I wished. It’s my understanding that your number is 770-513-6674.

I sincerely appreciate your communications with me on this matter, but I would also like to share the following:

Ms. Anderson and Mr. Steele both assured me via separate telephone conversations last school year that this very same issue would be addressed. It obviously was not. I like to think that I’m a fair-minded person, but I hope that considering the history you would understand that I would like something tangible by the end of January 2008. If not, I plan to petition the BOE for an agenda slot and speaking time at the February meeting. Should they decline, I will still attend the public forum ahead of time to read my complaints into public record. At that point my obligations to the GCPS chain of command will be satisfied. Should the issues persist, I’ll turn it over to others to pursue.

With respects to the human error factor, I don’t see this as a huge obstacle to overcome and believe that with very little time and resources the current methods for managing a substitute route can be edited to provide a more clearly defined objective.

Mr. Duffy, I think it’s a shame that we’re at this juncture. I certainly don’t like spending time out of my day addressing this issue and I’m equally sure that you all don’t like hearing from me. This is not about a trivial issue, but rather the safety of our children and the shortcomings that I have brought to light seem so obvious to me that, to be honest, I just can’t explain or understand why there has been no policy on the matter to date and why I have met such opposition in attempting to rectify.

The only reason I’ve involved so many people thus far is due to the fact that I’ve had such a difficult time in receiving any sort of response or the courtesy of a reply. I would have much preferred handling this at a lower level. I will again offer my assistance should anyone wish to hear opinions outside the loop.

Mr. Duffy, thank you again for your time and attention. Please do me the favor of a courtesy reply.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

E-Mail To Cindy Loe, Linda Anderson And Phillip Duffy

—– Original Message —–

From: M. Weingarten

To: Cindy_Loe@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Phil_Duffy@gwinnett.k12.ga.us

Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 12:55 PM

Subject: Materials Related To My Ongoing Transportation Concerns

To: Phillip Duffy, Linda Anderson and Cindy Loe

To be fair, Mr. Duffy is still investigating the issue(s) and I still owe him through Tuesday, 11/13/07 to get back to me. That being said, for a number of reasons I have found it necessary to compile and organize my correspondence with respects to this matter. Since a number of people who have contacted me by phone have requested that I recite e-mail correspondence and to have some of that correspondence questioned, I felt that the most efficient means by which to accomplish this for all to benefit was to publish online. I make my living in Internet development and programming so I have the resources available to me. I’m still not finished posting all of my telephone recaps, but I believe that all of the written matter is published and available for review. I wanted Mr. Duffy to have access to my correspondence to assist him in his investigation. Not that I think that Mr. Duffy didn’t believe me, but I got the impression while speaking with him that he found some of my statements hard to fathom. I’ll leave it here for now. The published material may be found at the following URLs:

http://gcps.tk

or

http://gcps.wordpress.com/

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

770-469-8559

xc: esq.

E-Mail From Linda Anderson – Area Superintendent

—– Original Message —–
From: <Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 8:51 AM
Subject: Transportation Concerns

Good Morning Mr. Weingarten,
Thank you again for sharing your concerns regarding our transportation
processes.  I have communicated this information with Mr. Steele and he
will contact you to discuss them in greater detail. Thank you again for
your concern for the well being of your children and the other children in
our system as well.
Linda Anderson
————————–
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Device

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Phone Call From Phillip Duffy – Executive Director Of Operations

Received an unsolicited phone call from Phillip Duffy who stated that he was calling on behalf of Jim Steele who was contacted by Linda Anderson with respects to this latest incident. Mr. Duffy stated that Mr. Steele would not be available to assist or communicate with me directly with regards to this matter and asked if it would be acceptable with me if he did so in his stead. I stated that this would be fine.

Mr. Duffy stated that we had spoken by phone previously regarding past transportation issues, but I told him that I didn’t recall those discussions. Mr. Duffy politely listened as I covered the details as I understood them at that time. He stated that he needed a few days to investigate and that he would get back to me with the results no later than Tuesday, 11/13/07. I told him that would be fine.

Notes:

I don’t understand why Ms. Anderson was able to make contact with Mr. Steele, have conversation regarding the matter and  convey an assurance the he would get back to me only to have the matter delegated to Mr. Duffy. 

Phone Call From Linda Anderson – Area Superintendent

Received phone call from Dona Smith, Linda Anderson’s assistant at approximately 9:30 AM. She transferred me to Ms. Anderson. According to my cell phone the conversation lasted 35 minutes. The following is my accounting of the conversation:

- Ms. Anderson explained that she was out of town at a conference.

- I reviewed my concerns stating that I am still not satisfied that there are policies in place to address children being left stranded at a GCPS assigned bus stop.

- I reminded her that this marks the third such occasion of our neighborhood children being stranded at a bus stop in the last nine school months – twelve calendar months.

- I reviewed the e-mail correspondence from Roger Clark where he states, “The current incident was human error where neither the driver nor anyone in Transportation was aware that your child’s bus stop was missed.” I asked her if this was acceptable with her reply being that she had had a phone conversation with Mr. Clark whereby he stated that there was policy in place to manage this situation. I told her that it was obvious that there was not or our stop would not have been missed. She asked if Mr. Clark had contacted me with the information that she had received from him to which I replied, “No.”.

- I explained to her that I felt that this issue should be a relatively easy
one to correct and reiterated my suggestion that check boxes be added to the route sheet so that a (substitute) driver would be able to visually keep up with the flow of the route. Any missed stop should become evident at which point they could contact transportation to inform them of the miss and allow transportation to correct. She stated that she felt that this was reasonable and would review with Jim Steele. She stated that she would make contact with Mr. Steele at some point during the day and that she would call me back with the results.

- I asked her why unforeseen transportation issues (traffic, mechanical breakdowns, driver illness, etc.) are not addressed in the GCPS parent handbook. She did not have an answer.

- I explained to her that this is not a matter of inconvenience, but rather one of safety. That there appears to be a systemic problem within the GCPS transportation department whereby missed bus pickups are not addressed in any form. We discussed a number of consequences including accidental harm to children and foul play as they stand around with no direction, with no policy with which to review.

- I asked if she felt that this was a legitimate concern to which she replied, “Yes.”. I asked whether she felt that this issue needed to be addressed by GCPS to which she replied, “Yes.” I asked her if she felt that the GCPS parent handbook should be amended to include these items discussed along with a GCPS transportation contact name and phone number to which she replied, “Yes.”. I asked her if she felt that the number of misses we’ve experienced was acceptable to which she replied, “No.”. I asked her if she felt that Mr. Clark’s not responding to my questions posed in my reply e-mail to him was acceptable to which she replied that she was under the impression from Mr. Clark that he had addressed the issue with me. I told her he had not.

- Ms. Anderson reiterated that she would make contact with Mr. Steele at some point during the day and get back in touch with me to follow up.

E-Mail To Dr. Cindy Loe – Associate Superintendent

 —– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Cindy_Loe@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 10:10 AM
Subject: Area Superintendent Unresponsive To Concerns

Dr. Loe -

My name is Marty Weingarten and I have had an ongoing safety concern with regards to GCPS transportation for about a year now. Please see attached e-mail for a few details. It’s becoming apparent that your staff does not share my concern. Your transportation manager has not responded to the questions I have in the attached e-mail and most disturbingly, your area superintendent, Linda Anderson has not responded. Last Thursday, 11/01/07 at approximately 2:30 PM I called Ms. Anderson to review my concerns. Her assistant, Ms. Dona Smith took my call, was familiar with the situation and stated that Ms. Anderson was out of the office but that she would have her return my call. Ms. Anderson has not returned my call.

I believe that I have a legitimate concern that requires addressing by GCPS. I have had conversations with neutral third parties who after reviewing my correspondence share my concerns. I have offered GCPS proactive suggestions as to how to address the issues, some of which were addressed by Ms. Anderson last April (see attachment).

Unfortunately, the situation continues. As I have stated, I am going to press this issue to a resolution whether it be within the county ranks or outside. This is a matter of safety, not inconvenience and all appearances suggest that GCPS is willing to accept the risks to our children.

Please advise by way of reply to this e-mail as to your thoughts on the following:

- Should your transportation manager have replied to my questions?
- Should your area superintendent have replied to my e-mail and phone call?
- Do I have a legitimate concern?
- Is GCPS planning to address these concerns?

Thank you very much in advance, I’ll look forward to your reply.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net
770.469.8559

xc: esq.

Notes:

- Item 1:
The e-mail attachment referenced is this:

—– Original Message —–
From: “M. Weingarten”
To: Roger_Clark@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Cc: Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us;Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Transportation Concerns – Again (5)

… A copy of which is found posted onsite here: http://gcps.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/e-mail-to-roger-clark-transportation-manager/

- Item 2:
Dr. Loe has not replied to me via e-mail as requested nor by phone.

- Item 3:
It would appear that Dr. Loe did facilitate a reply phone call from Linda Anderson the next day (11/08/07)

E-Mail To Roger Clark – Transportation Manager

—– Original Message —–
From: “M. Weingarten” mweingarten@earthlink.net
To: Roger_Clark@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Cc: Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us;
Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Transportation Concerns – Again (5)

Sorry, I forgot a point…

|| Again, I express that this was human error on the part of the
|| substitute driver, failing to read the route sheet properly.

Suggestion: Revamp your route sheets so that they have a check box for every
stop. The driver can check the box as the kids load. Have them sign the
sheet upon completion of the route and turn it in. It should be obvious to
all if there is a missed pickup.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: “M. Weingarten” mweingarten@earthlink.net
To: Roger_Clark@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Cc: Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us;
Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: Transportation Concerns – Again (4)

Let me address to all -

|| I would like to differentiate the current situation from the situation
|| that
|| occurred in May. The May incident occurred due to the driver being unable
|| to access your subdivision as a result of the entrance being blocked.
|| Based
|| on this scenario, the procedure referenced in your first email
|| correspondence would have applied and been followed.

Mr. Clark, we discussed this by phone yesterday, our subdivision has two
entrances and you acknowledged knowing this before I was even able to finish
my sentence. Our neighborhood was safe and accessible the entire time. This
was a simple case of the county sacrificing a few to get the many to the
given destination at the appointed time. We have a neighborhood resident who
is a Gwinnett County deputy who was a witness to the entire event. He was
even in the street speaking with the kids and parents as we futilely
attempted to contact and resolve with GCPS transportation and Trickum Middle
School.

You want to differentiate,… there’s no need. Children were left stranded
at a GCPS bus stop. This should never be allowed to happen, period. There
should be policy and safeguards in place for every conceivable scenario.
GCPS feels compelled to intellectualize this issue by throwing rhetoric at
it. Boil it down,… don’t allow children to be left stranded at a GCPS
appointed bus stop without a policy, plan, what-have-you to pick them up in
a timely manner.

GCPS does its level best to assure that its policies and bureaucracy are
maintained for its own best interest.

|| Your first email mentioned that you attempted to contact the
|| Transportation
|| Department by phone, but did not receive an answer. The number you
|| furnished (678-304-6000) is not a Transportation phone number. The
|| correct
|| number to use is the number I provided yesterday – 770-513-6686.

Is there a transportation number provided in the GCPS handbook? The GCPS
handbook addresses item after item that is meant to keep students in check,
but I don’t see where it addresses what is to be done in the event of a
missed pickup. Why is this? Ms. Anderson and I discussed adding this to the
handbook. Mr. Steele and I discussed adding this to the handbook and all
were not only receptive to the suggestion, but stated that it should be
included. Why have these new policies not been included in the 2007-2008
handbook?

|| Please use this number if you have any further incident.

Are you suggesting to me that the policies outlined by Ms. Anderson are not
going to be followed? That we are going to have continually correct GCPS
transportation errors?

|| GCPS Transportation services over 122,000 students everyday, covering over
|| 6,700 routes and making over 70,000 stops. We strive for 100% accuracy.
|| With over 1,600 employees, we do occasionally make human errors and are
|| not
|| perfect. Being the largest school district transporter in the state and
|| the
|| fourth largest in the nation, we have attained an outstanding service
|| level
|| for both accuracy and safety.

Rhetoric and politics. Actions,… actions speak to this issue and the
actions, or inactions speak volumes. The lack of response speaks volumes.
Would it be acceptable to any of you to have your child left stranded by a
school bus three times within nine school months? Would this rhetoric pacify
you? GCPS also has many employees with a huge payroll. Does your paycheck
make it to you every month? And if it didn’t? If it missed you as often as
my child is left at his bus stop? I’d be willing to bet that should this
huge entity fail you as often as it has failed us you would do whatever
necessary to correct.

I see through this and I think that any other intelligent person could see
this for what it is.

As I have stated, GCPS is playing Russian Roulette with the safety and well
being of our children. I have an adult neighbor who was hit by a car while
walking in broad daylight while on a sidewalk on Pounds road. This person
just retired from management at AT&T and had a distinguished military career
in Naval Intelligence. Stuff happens people, and we have to be ever
vigilant, especially with our kids. I see what you say,… but I have
personally experienced what you do and they couldn’t be any further apart.

The problems that we have experienced are not complicated ones to fix, but
it appears from my vantage point that GCPS does not feel the need to
instruct drivers as to what needs to be done and throwing more technology at
the situation is not going to improve it. Not providing written policy for
parents to review doesn’t help and in my opinion is reckless. You don’t want
to put anything in writing that would suggest that there might be an
inherent problem. Some would suggest guilt by omission.

There’s not much more to say other than I’m done with this. Should this
happen again to our family, we’re going to up the ante to whatever level
needed to expose the issue and get results.

Pull his records,… my son is in 9th grade at Parkview. He is in advanced
classes and receives mostly A’s with the occasional B. He always behaves
himself. We’ve never had a problem on a bus. We’ve raised our children to
respect authority. Ask his teachers, or freshman football coaches. We expect
the same considerations in return. Anything less is unacceptable.

Ms. Anderson, I would greatly appreciate your take on this.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

xc: esq

—– Original Message —–
From: Roger_Clark@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” mweingarten@earthlink.net
Cc: Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us;
Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us; Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us;
Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: Transportation Concerns – Again (2)

Mr. Weingarten,

I regret the error and apologize for the school bus failing to pick up
your
child. Again, I express that this was human error on the part of the
substitute driver, failing to read the route sheet properly.

I would like to differentiate the current situation from the situation
that
occurred in May. The May incident occurred due to the driver being unable
to access your subdivision as a result of the entrance being blocked.
Based
on this scenario, the procedure referenced in your first email
correspondence would have applied and been followed.

The current incident was human error where neither the driver nor anyone
in
Transportation was aware that your child’s bus stop was missed. If known,
we would have sent another school bus to your subdivision to pick-up
students.

GCPS Transportation services over 122,000 students everyday, covering over
6,700 routes and making over 70,000 stops. We strive for 100% accuracy.
With over 1,600 employees, we do occasionally make human errors and are
not
perfect. Being the largest school district transporter in the state and
the
fourth largest in the nation, we have attained an outstanding service
level
for both accuracy and safety.

Your first email mentioned that you attempted to contact the
Transportation
Department by phone, but did not receive an answer. The number you
furnished (678-304-6000) is not a Transportation phone number. The
correct
number to use is the number I provided yesterday – 770-513-6686. This
phone
number will connect you with our Dispatch Department. Please use this
number if you have any further incident. When you call this number, you
will receive a short message and be prompted to make a selection for a
late
bus. At that time, you will be connected with one of our dispatchers.

Thank you for your understanding.

“M. Weingarten”
mweingarten@eart
hlink.net To
Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
10/30/2007 02:57 , Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
PM Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.u
s,
Please respond to Roger_Clark@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
“M. Weingarten” cc
mweingarten@eart
hlink.net Subject
Re: Transportation Concerns – Again
(2)

To: Roger Clark, Linda Anderson, Jim Steele, Grant Reppert and Charles
Buchanan

All -

Obviously GCPS is not planning on putting anything in writing to me so I’m
going to recap my just completed telephone conversation with Mr. Clark and
ask that he reply with any omissions or misstatements. I guess it was Mr.
Clark’s responsibility to fall on this grenade and performed his GCPS
political duties in a polite manner as I vented my frustrations. I
reviewed
with him that this was the third such incident in the last calendar year,
that I had been proactive in working with Linda Anderson and the county in
trying to develop procedures to avoid such incidents in the future and
that
if one reviews the policies developed and referenced below, one should
understand my frustration and desire to resolve. We live in a time where
instant communications are a reality and that making a simple, quick call
between driver and dispatch to resolve whatever issue there was would have
most likely avoided this issue and not doing so is completely inexcusable.

Without going into details, Mr. Clark said that GCPS transportation “blew
it” this morning. We discussed the risks placed upon the children being
left alone in the early AM darkness and the responsibilities of the county
from transportation to school administration.

I hate to have to reiterate, but this is the third time in 9 school months
that this very same thing has happened to us. I have tried to be proactive
and work within the chain of command, but once again, should this happen
again, I am going to bulldog it however necessary, inside and/or outside
the GCPS chain of command. It’s painfully obvious that working within the
system has not proven fruitful.

Folks, it’s so clear to me,… set aside bureaucracy and time schedules to
ensure our kids,… my son,… are picked up as they should. Require
drivers make a radio call in the event of any aberration en route. It is
my
understanding that the policies outlined below by Ms. Anderson should have
been followed this morning.

I understand that GPS navigation devices are being placed in the buses in
our area,… that’s great, but pointless if the children are left
stranded.
As I told Mr. Clark, in my estimation some of these funds might be better
utilized by teaching substitute bus drivers how to read a route sheet and
hammering home to all drivers that communication is essential.

I welcome any and all rebuttal.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Charles_Buchanan@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
; Jim_Steele@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:32 AM
Subject: Transportation Concerns – Again (1)

To: Linda Anderson, Jim Steele, Grant Reppert and Charles Buchanan

Ms. Anderson -

It has happened again. My son, who is now in 9th grade at Parkview High
School, was left, along with the rest of the neighborhood children, at
their respective bus stops this morning.

Our usual pickup time is 6:20 AM, we,… my wife or I always accompany him
to the bus stop, were at the designated area at 6:15 AM as per usual. No
bus ever arrived. We stayed at the stop until 7:00 AM at which point one
of the other parents, Ms. Cindy Renyolds, was gracious enough to take the
kids to school in her van.

We attempted to call Parkview High School and Gwinnet County
Transportation, but no one was answering their phones.

Ms. Anderson,… you assured me that the measures you outlined below would
be mandated and implemented, but obviously this has not occurred. Please
explain to me why none of the safeguards you outlined below were utilized
this morning.

Mr. Steele, you called me last May and assured me that I had indeed
identified a county problem and that these measures addressed below by Ms.
Anderson were a necessary safeguard that would be implemented immediately.

I want an explanation as to what occurred this morning and what is to be
done for any future occurrence occurrence. As I have repeatedly stated,
there is absolutely no excuse for leaving school age children stranded at
a bus stop.

Appearances would suggest that Gwinnett County Public Schools is paying
lip service to an irate parent for the purposes of shutting them up. This
will no do in my case,… either we all come to an understanding or I will
pursue this issue as far as is necessary to correct.

Additional, it was noticed that no mention of these corrective measures
made their way into the latest student handbook. I still say that the
county is leaving itself exposed for legal action should an unfortunate
incident occur while a child remains stranded at a stop, with no recourse
of action as is currently mandated by the county.

Please advise as soon as possible.

Martin Weingarten
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: Linda_Anderson@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: M. Weingarten
Cc: lradloff@comcast.net ; Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us ;
Lynne_Davis@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 8:16 AM
Subject: Transportation Concerns

Dear Mr. Weingarten,

Thank you again for sharing your concerns regarding the safety of students
at the bus stop in your neighborhood. Per our conversation, we will have
the following practices in place in the future to ensure that students are
picked up in a timely manner in the event of an emergency delay:
1. Should a bus be unable to pick up students due to unforeseen
reasons, the bus driver will immediately contact dispatch who will
in turn contact the school and the transportation supervisor.
2. The school will contact parents who reside within the route to
communicate the delay and let them know that another bus will be
routed to pick up the students.
3. The transportation supervisor will go to the bus route location to
let students know of the delay and reassure them that another bus is
enroute to pick them up.
4. School personnel responsible for supervision of bus arrivals at the
school will contact transportation dispatch if a bus does not
deliver students within the window which is allotted for bus
arrivals.

We also spoke about the possibility of a parent within your neighborhood
being available for monitoring the students as an added layer of support
prior to the arrival of the bus each day.

I will also pass on your suggestion of including information in the
student handbook regarding what parents should instruct their students to
do in the event that a bus does not pick them up after an extended period
of time. During our conversation, we discussed the possibility of the
children within the neighborhood gathering together so they are not
standing alone at their bus route area should the bus be delayed for an
extended period of time.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your concerns and to discuss
possible ways to make the process for picking up students each morning one
which is as safe and secure as possible. Please feel free to contact me
should you have any additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Linda Anderson
Area Superintendent

Gwinnett County Public Schools
Division of Teaching and Learning
Instructional Support Center
437 Old Peachtree Road
Suwanee, GA 30024
Phone 678-301-7290
Fax 678-301-7262

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Notes:

- Roger Clark never replied to this e-mail. Mr. Clark never called me back as he said he would.

- No comment was made via e-mail from anyone regarding my suggestion.

- Linda Anderson never replied to this e-mail.

- Jim Steele never replied to this e-mail.

Phone Call From Jim Steele – Chief Operations Officer

Jim Steele called me regarding all of the correspondence of April 2007.  We had a cordial, 10 – 15 minute conversation covering a number of topics, but concentrated on the subjects of delayed pickups, missed pickups and the associated policies and language that had been omitted from the GCPS Student/Parent Handbooks.

He stated that he was pleased that I had brought the matter to the attention of the county, that my position had merit and that a policy change was in order. I asked him specifically if changes would be made to the upcoming 2007-2008 handbook and he stated with no hesitation that it would indeed be edited to reflect language and policy pertaining to transportation anomalies along with remedies to be made available to parents – all stemming from my communications with GCPS officials.

I offered my cooperation and assistance should they want an outsiders opinion or a parental viewpoint and he stated that he would consider this offer and again stated his appreciation for my assistance.

E-Mail From Louise Radloff – Chairman, GCPS Board Of Education

—– Original Message —–
From: <lradloff@comcast.net
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Good evening sir – I gave a copy of your information, to Mr. Steele and
asked him to investigate and get back with me. He has not gotten back to
me at this time. Let me assure you the comment I made about safety first
was not a ipolitical statement. It is a fact. I am a parent and a
grandparent and with what we hear about in today’s world I am constantly
asking questions and discussing the safety of our students.  If thye
district did not handle a situation correctly I will check and double
check to see it is corrected and yes I will apologize, I know that does
not help you feel secure about  your child. I will continue to monitor
it – Thank you for bringing it to my attention – Louise bRadloff
————– Original message ———————-
From: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Don’t bother replying,… I’ve scheduled an appointment with the
superintendent and I’ll let them explain to me why my word can’t be
trusted and why it would appear that the safety of our neighborhood’s
children continue to be a concern.

—– Original Message —–
From: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
To: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Cc: <lradloff@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 10:11 AM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Mr. Reppert -

We are going to clarify this issue now, or I will move forward until
this particular issue is resolved.

The information about the safety and accessability of
the other entrance at the time is questionable.

Please explain,… do you not feel that our word is sufficient?

This incident was witnessed by Gwinnett County Sheriff Deputy Glen
Simmons who lives at 5260 Fremont Ct Stone Mountain, GA 30087 which is
approximately 20 yards from the site where the children finally
assembled. Mr. Simmons was summoned outdoors due to the fact that
there
had been a 911 call to another home in the neighborhood. Deputy
Simmons
and 3 other Gwinnett County Police Department officers witnessed the
school bus situation as they discussed the 911 call in the street.
Would
their testimony suffice?

Your statement goes to the heart of one of my major concerns which is
the fact that my concerns are, without exception, dismissed or ignored
by school officials when I bring them to their attention.

The one thing we will not do is knowingly put students in
jeopardy,
either by making an unsafe
turnaround or trying to put a bus somewhere it cannot safely go.  The
emphasis here is not one of meeting a time schedule but of ensuring
safety.

The county did put children at risk unnecessarily by virtue of this
decision, it has happened before and I don’t care to see it happen
again. If you can’t assure me that my concerns are being addressed by
3:30 PM today I will press forward.

—– Original Message —–
From: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Cc: <lradloff@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Mr. Weingarten,

My apologies about Monday.  There are no excuses.  I am having some
emergency surgery this week and it has messed up my schedule.

Your email has identified a process issue we will fix.  If any stop or
stops can’t be serviced due to unforseen events, we will notify the
school
immediately so they can begin the process of contacting parents
immediately.

The event you describe in your email occurs monthly somewhere within
the
county.  Infrastructure maintenance, emergency events and the like
will
eliminate our ability to access certain neighborhoods.  When the
restrictions are preplanned, we are able to work out modifcations and
arrangements to move stops and coordinate with parents to enable the
students to be picked up elsewhere.  In most cases of emergencies,
that
is
not possible.  That is one of the reasons we encourage parental
attendance
at bus stops.  The children at a bus stop are not in the custody of
the
school system until the school bus arrives on scene, and it is always
advisable for at least one neighborhood parent to be available for
safety
and emergencies.

Once we identify an area as unreachable by a school bus, we continue
with
our obligation to the remaining students on the route to get them to
school.  Throughout the route period we will monitor the area to see
if
access can be reestablished, and if it can, we will send a bus in to
see
if
there are any more students, as we did in this case.  It is extremely
rare
in these circumstances that we pick up students on that second run
through,
as most often parents have made arrangements to transport by car.

I won’t debate the merits of turning around to access the neighborhood
from
another entrance.  The information about the safety and accessability
of
the other entrance at the time is questionable.  The one thing we will
not
do is knowingly put students in jeopardy, either by making an unsafe
turnaround or trying to put a bus somewhere it cannot safely go.  The
emphasis here is not one of meeting a time schedule but of ensuring
safety.

“M. Weingarten”

<mweingarten@eart        To:
<Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
hlink.net               cc:
<lradloff@comcast.net
Subject:  Re: Missed
Bus
Pickup – Follow-Up
04/26/2007 06:53
AM
Please respond to
“M. Weingarten”

Mr. Reppert and Ms. Radloff -

I was promised answers to my questions on Monday, it is now Thursday
and
I
have no answers. If I don’t receive satisfactory answers to my
questions
by

this afternoon I will schedule a meeting with the superintendents
office
and
allow them to address my concerns and why they have been ignored thus
far.

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Mr. Weingarten,

I appreciate your note.  I am doing some additional investigation,
and
will
be able to give you some specific answers on Monday.

“M. Weingarten”
<mweingarten@eart        To:
<Sandra_Holloway@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
<Debbie_Moore@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
hlink.net
<Martha_Stephens@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
<Phillip_Curtis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,

<Lynne_Davis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us, <Peggy_ONeill@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
04/20/2007 07:54         cc:
<lradloff@comcast.net, <Ronni_Ford@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
AM
<Grant_Reppert@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Please respond to        Subject:  Re: Missed
Bus
Pickup – Follow-Up
“M. Weingarten”

To: Martha Stephens, Peggy O’Neill, Debbie Moore, Sandra Holloway,
Lynne
Davis, Phillip Curtis
Cc: Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford, Grant Reppert

Re: Follow-up – Gwinnett County School Bus Missing Pickup Of Corinth
Hills
Subdivision On The Morning Of Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I believe that a serious error in judgment was made with regards to
the
bus
incident that is addressed in detail below in my original message. I
believe that Gwinnett County is extremely fortunate that no harm
came
to
the children in their charge as they remained stranded for over an
hour,
and unnecessarily so. As stated in my original message below, all
the
driver had to do was turn around after her next pickup, travel the
half
mile back and pick up our kids, but the powers that be felt that
getting
the rest of the route to TMS on schedule trumped the safety and
well-being
of our children. In my mind there is absolutely no, and I mean no
excuse
for leaving 12, 13 and 14 year old children unattended for an
extended
period of time, in the street, without a plan of action in order to
get
another neighborhood’s children to school on schedule. Someone
please
explain to me in writing how it is that Gwinnett County believes
that
this
thought process is valid.

Being that this is not the first such incident of a Gwinnett County
School
System bus leaving our neighborhood children stranded for periods of
time
of over an hour and having subsequent correspondence from me ignored
by
the
school officials that I addressed, I am sending copies of this
correspondence via USPS Certified Mail to Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford
and
Grant Reppert. Should a similar incident occur again in the future
with
the
outcome not being as fortunate to Gwinnett County as this incident,
copies
of these documents will be made available to the appropriate
authorities,
attorneys and members of the media. USPS Certified Mail receipts
will
provide evidence of possession. I believe that this flawed decision
making
process is a disaster waiting to happen and will eventually lead to
a
child
or children being injured by being left unattended for long periods
of
time.

The location of this incident yesterday morning is a quarter mile
from
the
location where less than a month ago a Parkview High student
returned
home
from school only to be viciously attacked, bound and raped. This
incident
was extensively reported on by all local media outlets. Here is a
link
to
the Gwinnett County Police Department website regarding the assault:

http://www.co.gwinnett.ga.us/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcbrowse.do?channel

Id=-33941&channelPage=/ep/channel/default.jsp&pageTypeId=536880236

The decisions and actions of Gwinnett County Schools regarding this
incident and the subsequent disregard of concern is reprehensible at
best.

From what I understand, the last time this bus driver refused to
turn
into
our neighborhood and pickup our children was due to the fact that
Gwinnett
County DOT had placed a traffic monitor across the road and she
believed
that these monitor wires were electrical wires. This incident left
our
children stranded and unattended for a period of around an hour and
a
half
and upon their eventual arrival at school led to the sequestering of
these
stranded students as I referenced in my original message below.
While
not
positive, we believe that the timeframe for this event was last
October
while the ITBS testing was being conducted. School login records
should
bear this out although my son tells me that it is his recollection
that a
TMS staff member signed in for them. Is it appropriate for a staff
member
to sign-in for a student?

It has also since come to my attention that the same bus driver
involved
in
this incident was recently reprimanded by TMS staff for leaving
these
very
same neighborhood children stranded at TMS one afternoon. I can only
imagine the reason that this driver was addressed for this
particular
incident was due to the fact that it occurred on school property
leaving
TMS staff directly responsible for the issue. This reprimand was for
an
incident 15 minutes in duration and while the children were still
under
the
supervision of TMS staff. We have multiple incidents where children
were
left completely unattended for much longer periods of time.

Unfortunately, as stated, there is a disturbing history with regards
to
this issue and I want to raise my own red flags and document the
issue
at
hand. I have no desire to debate this issue by phone or verbally in
any
form in order to avoid any “selective memory” issues that might
arise.
I
would however be more than happy to receive any explanation that the
county
might have to offer in writing.

I want to also address what appears to be a lack of planning by
Gwinnett
County School Systems in the event that a bus is unable to pickup
children
at the scheduled time. We live in a relatively small neighborhood
with
only
three stops. If a bus does not arrive on time our children have no
idea
as
to what they should do. Fortunately, I was home and available to
assist
on
this occasion, but upon making my way to my son’s stop found the bus
rider
kids milling around the neighborhood aimlessly. I believe that there
should
be a plan in place in the event that a bus is later than a
designated
period of time – say 15 minutes. The kids should be advised to rally
and
consolidate at a predetermined location. The kids and the bus
drivers
should have this location marked on the bus route map to avoid
confusion.
There is strength in numbers and this would add an additional layer
of
security.

Regards -

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

cc (via USPS Certified Mail): Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford, Grant
Reppert
xc: esq.

—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Lynne_Davis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ;
Phillip_Curtis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
;
Martha_Stephens@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Peggy_ONeill@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
;
Debbie_Moore@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Sandra_Holloway@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:40 PM
Subject: Missed Bus Pickup

To:
Martha Stephens
Peggy O’Neill
Debbie Moore
Sandra Holloway
Lynne Davis
Phillip Curtis

Re: Gwinnett County School Bus Missing Pickup Of Corinth Hills
Subdivision
On The Morning Of Wednesday, April 18, 2007

All -

First, thanks to Ms. Davis and Mr. Curtis for meeting with me this
morning
on such short notice to allow me to address my concerns and for
assisting
in resolving the issue of getting my son into class for testing.
Thanks
also for providing an appropriate county contact for me to
address…
but,
I would like to take exception with one statement Ms. Davis made
having
had the opportunity to reflect upon it for awhile. Whereas I can
appreciate Ms. Davis’ assertion that the county “owns the process of
transportation” and that the process is “out of her hands”,
ultimately
she
is responsible for those students enrolled at her school and am a
bit
disappointed that she didn’t feel compelled to seek a response that
would
at least attempt to satisfy the situation at hand and remedy same
for
any
similar future event.

The situation as I understand it:
Ms. Schwartz, the bus driver, arrived at our neighborhood on
schedule
to
find that one entrance was blocked by a Gwinnett County utility
crew.
The
driver opted not to enter our neighborhood, but to continue on with
the
rest of her route. This decision left 9 children in 6th, 7th and 8th
grade
abandoned without explanation and for a period of over an hour.

There is another entrance to our subdivision less than 1/8 of a mile
from
the entrance that was blocked. This other entrance was completely
clear
and on the same side of the road. Our subdivision has several
cul-de-sacs
that would allow for the driver to turn around. Having lived on one
of
these cul-de-sacs for 18 years and having multiple county school bus
drivers living in the neighborhood, I have personally witnessed
full-sized
county school buses make these turnarounds on many occasions.

Had the driver turned around after making her next pickups and
returned
to
pick up our children, the entire bus may have been five to ten
minutes
later than normal at arrival to TMS. Instead a group of students
made
it
on time while 9 others were left stranded and unattended. Was this a
wise
decision and is it acceptable?

1. I would like an explanation as to the decision making process
that
occurred this morning.

2. I would like to know if this decision was a sound one and
acceptable
to
all of those responsible for the safety of our children.

3. I would like to know what the decision would be should the same
situation present itself again in the future. This very same issue
has
occurred before with the exception that I was unable to intervene on
my
son’s behalf and subsequently he was penalized for the rest of the
day,
along with the other stranded bus riders, by having to spend the
remainder
of the day sequestered from the rest of their classmates due to
standardized testing that was taking place.

Regards -

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

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E-Mail To Louise Radloff – Chairman, GCPS Board Of Education

—– Original Message —–
From: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
To: <lradloff@comcast.net
Cc: <linda_anderson@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

cc: Linda Anderson

Ms. Radloff -

Let me explain my “tone”. Yes, as of the receipt of this message I am
still dissatisfied with Gwinnett County School Systems as it applies to
the incident in question and the response of county officials.

I will first address your statements from this message:

|| Our children’s safety is first and foremost.
With all due respect, Ma’am,… this is a political statement. Of course
I don’t suggest otherwise, but I have highlighted  two incidents – with
witnesses and means to independently corroborated such as school login
records – in the past six months whereby our neighborhood children have
been needlessly left stranded and unattended by a county school bus -
without any explanation – and without any plan of action. Counting the
incident where this bus driver left our children at TMS, there are three
incidents in six months.

I challenge you to tell me that if your 70 pound, 12 year old, 6th grade
child was left stranded in the street at a bus stop with no idea as to
what to do that you would be okay with it. If you will review your
2006-2007 Gwinnett County Public Schools Student/Parent Handbook and
turn to page 40 you will find any number of rules and regulations for
any number of scenarios, but absolutely nothing in regards to what
should happen in the event that a bus not arrive on time. Quite frankly,
I’m insulted that no one who has addressed me from the county shares my
outrage at was has been allowed to occur repeatedly.

|| I have spoken to Mr. Jim Steele over oversees the transportation
|| department to ask him to look at what occurred and advise me.
|| You wrote to me on 04/20/07 in regards to this and I still do not have
|| any response from you or Mr. Steele as to his findings. It’s been ten
|| days, is this acceptable?

The remainder of my points below can either be documented by me in
writing or corroborated by independent sources.

- I have an extremely difficult time getting an appropriate county
official to respond to my concerns. If you will review the initial
response from Mr. Reppert on 04/20/07 you will see that I was promised
answers the following Monday. I never received a response. It required a
follow-up by me the following Thursday to get a response. It has be my
personal experience that this lack of response is the norm rather than
the exception.

- The county’s explanation for this particular incident has morphed and
evolved with each response I have received.

- Mr. Reppert states the following, “Your email has identified a process
issue we will fix.  If any stop or stops can’t be serviced due to
unforseen events, we will notify the school immediately so they can
begin the process of contacting parents immediately.” Additionally, he
states the following within the same message, “The event you describe in
your email occurs monthly somewhere within the county.”

I have taken time out of my schedule to problem solve a county issue. It
would appear that my suggestions have affected change that will
hopefully provide a safer environment for all county children, but not
only has there been no expression of gratitude, but in my opinion, the
“tone” of the county towards me has been one of inconvenience.

According to Mr. Reppert’s own words, this happens on an all too regular
occurrence. With a dedicated transportation department and hired
officials, I don’t understand why it has taken me to address this issue.

My son is a fourteen year old 8th grade student at TMS. He has been in
the Probe program since 3rd grade. His cumulative grade point average
for this year is 96.0. He is also an accomplished athlete. He broke
several long standing TMS track records last year of which at least one
or two still stand. He is a perennial All-Star in baseball at Mountain
Park Park and will be playing football for Parkview in the fall. He is
respectful towards his teachers as well as TMS administrators and staff.
He has never been a behavioral problem,.. conversely, he is continually
praised by his teachers and peers for his leadership. His mother and I
emphasize mind, body, respect and sense of community and expect others
with whom we come in contact to extend us this same courtesy.

I attempt to address my concerns with the appropriate county official(s)
as needed, if necessary I have no problem in escalating the issue up the
chain of command and/or outside the system if need-be. I had a lengthy
conversation with Linda Anderson last Friday covering many of the topics
covered in this message. It appeared to be a productive conversation of
which Ms. Anderson volunteered to provide a recap via e-mail which I am
still awaiting. I am hopeful that her response will satisfy my concern,
but if not I am prepared to move upward on onward.

Regards -

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087-3233

—– Original Message —–
From: <lradloff@comcast.net
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Good afternoon sir – I have been following some of the e-mails that have
been copied to me although I apparently have not received the majority
of them because of the tone of your letter you seem upset. You indicate
you have an appointment with Mr. Wilbanks. I have spoken to Mr. Jim
Steele over oversees the transportation department to ask him to look at
what occured and advise me. Our children’s safety is first and foremost.
I understand the concern of what happened to the Parkview student We
have a very good transportation system but if we need to relook at
policy and procedure we will do it. – Sincerely Louise Radloff
————– Original message ———————-
From: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Mr. Reppert -

We are going to clarify this issue now, or I will move forward until
this particular issue is resolved.

The information about the safety and accessability of
the other entrance at the time is questionable.

Please explain,… do you not feel that our word is sufficient?

This incident was witnessed by Gwinnett County Sheriff Deputy Glen
Simmons who lives at 5260 Fremont Ct Stone Mountain, GA 30087 which is
approximately 20 yards from the site where the children finally
assembled. Mr. Simmons was summoned outdoors due to the fact that
there
had been a 911 call to another home in the neighborhood. Deputy
Simmons
and 3 other Gwinnett County Police Department officers witnessed the
school bus situation as they discussed the 911 call in the street.
Would
their testimony suffice?

Your statement goes to the heart of one of my major concerns which is
the fact that my concerns are, without exception, dismissed or ignored
by school officials when I bring them to their attention.

The one thing we will not do is knowingly put students in
jeopardy,
either by making an unsafe
turnaround or trying to put a bus somewhere it cannot safely go.  The
emphasis here is not one of meeting a time schedule but of ensuring
safety.

The county did put children at risk unnecessarily by virtue of this
decision, it has happened before and I don’t care to see it happen
again. If you can’t assure me that my concerns are being addressed by
3:30 PM today I will press forward.

—– Original Message —–
From: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Cc: <lradloff@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Mr. Weingarten,

My apologies about Monday.  There are no excuses.  I am having some
emergency surgery this week and it has messed up my schedule.

Your email has identified a process issue we will fix.  If any stop or
stops can’t be serviced due to unforseen events, we will notify the
school
immediately so they can begin the process of contacting parents
immediately.

The event you describe in your email occurs monthly somewhere within
the
county.  Infrastructure maintenance, emergency events and the like
will
eliminate our ability to access certain neighborhoods.  When the
restrictions are preplanned, we are able to work out modifcations and
arrangements to move stops and coordinate with parents to enable the
students to be picked up elsewhere.  In most cases of emergencies,
that
is
not possible.  That is one of the reasons we encourage parental
attendance
at bus stops.  The children at a bus stop are not in the custody of
the
school system until the school bus arrives on scene, and it is always
advisable for at least one neighborhood parent to be available for
safety
and emergencies.

Once we identify an area as unreachable by a school bus, we continue
with
our obligation to the remaining students on the route to get them to
school.  Throughout the route period we will monitor the area to see
if
access can be reestablished, and if it can, we will send a bus in to
see
if
there are any more students, as we did in this case.  It is extremely
rare
in these circumstances that we pick up students on that second run
through,
as most often parents have made arrangements to transport by car.

I won’t debate the merits of turning around to access the neighborhood
from
another entrance.  The information about the safety and accessability
of
the other entrance at the time is questionable.  The one thing we will
not
do is knowingly put students in jeopardy, either by making an unsafe
turnaround or trying to put a bus somewhere it cannot safely go.  The
emphasis here is not one of meeting a time schedule but of ensuring
safety.

“M. Weingarten”

<mweingarten@eart        To:
<Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
hlink.net               cc:
<lradloff@comcast.net
Subject:  Re: Missed
Bus
Pickup – Follow-Up
04/26/2007 06:53
AM
Please respond to
“M. Weingarten”

Mr. Reppert and Ms. Radloff -

I was promised answers to my questions on Monday, it is now Thursday
and
I
have no answers. If I don’t receive satisfactory answers to my
questions
by

this afternoon I will schedule a meeting with the superintendents
office
and
allow them to address my concerns and why they have been ignored thus
far.

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

—– Original Message —–
From: <Grant_Reppert@Gwinnett.k12.ga.us
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up

Mr. Weingarten,

I appreciate your note.  I am doing some additional investigation,
and
will
be able to give you some specific answers on Monday.

“M. Weingarten”
<mweingarten@eart        To:
<Sandra_Holloway@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
<Debbie_Moore@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
hlink.net
<Martha_Stephens@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
<Phillip_Curtis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,

<Lynne_Davis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us, <Peggy_ONeill@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
04/20/2007 07:54         cc:
<lradloff@comcast.net, <Ronni_Ford@gwinnett.k12.ga.us,
AM
<Grant_Reppert@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Please respond to        Subject:  Re: Missed
Bus
Pickup – Follow-Up
“M. Weingarten”

To: Martha Stephens, Peggy O’Neill, Debbie Moore, Sandra Holloway,
Lynne
Davis, Phillip Curtis
Cc: Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford, Grant Reppert

Re: Follow-up – Gwinnett County School Bus Missing Pickup Of Corinth
Hills
Subdivision On The Morning Of Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I believe that a serious error in judgment was made with regards to
the
bus
incident that is addressed in detail below in my original message. I
believe that Gwinnett County is extremely fortunate that no harm
came
to
the children in their charge as they remained stranded for over an
hour,
and unnecessarily so. As stated in my original message below, all
the
driver had to do was turn around after her next pickup, travel the
half
mile back and pick up our kids, but the powers that be felt that
getting
the rest of the route to TMS on schedule trumped the safety and
well-being
of our children. In my mind there is absolutely no, and I mean no
excuse
for leaving 12, 13 and 14 year old children unattended for an
extended
period of time, in the street, without a plan of action in order to
get
another neighborhood’s children to school on schedule. Someone
please
explain to me in writing how it is that Gwinnett County believes
that
this
thought process is valid.

Being that this is not the first such incident of a Gwinnett County
School
System bus leaving our neighborhood children stranded for periods of
time
of over an hour and having subsequent correspondence from me ignored
by
the
school officials that I addressed, I am sending copies of this
correspondence via USPS Certified Mail to Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford
and
Grant Reppert. Should a similar incident occur again in the future
with
the
outcome not being as fortunate to Gwinnett County as this incident,
copies
of these documents will be made available to the appropriate
authorities,
attorneys and members of the media. USPS Certified Mail receipts
will
provide evidence of possession. I believe that this flawed decision
making
process is a disaster waiting to happen and will eventually lead to
a
child
or children being injured by being left unattended for long periods
of
time.

The location of this incident yesterday morning is a quarter mile
from
the
location where less than a month ago a Parkview High student
returned
home
from school only to be viciously attacked, bound and raped. This
incident
was extensively reported on by all local media outlets. Here is a
link
to
the Gwinnett County Police Department website regarding the assault:

http://www.co.gwinnett.ga.us/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcbrowse.do?channel

Id=-33941&channelPage=/ep/channel/default.jsp&pageTypeId=536880236

The decisions and actions of Gwinnett County Schools regarding this
incident and the subsequent disregard of concern is reprehensible at
best.

From what I understand, the last time this bus driver refused to
turn
into
our neighborhood and pickup our children was due to the fact that
Gwinnett
County DOT had placed a traffic monitor across the road and she
believed
that these monitor wires were electrical wires. This incident left
our
children stranded and unattended for a period of around an hour and
a
half
and upon their eventual arrival at school led to the sequestering of
these
stranded students as I referenced in my original message below.
While
not
positive, we believe that the timeframe for this event was last
October
while the ITBS testing was being conducted. School login records
should
bear this out although my son tells me that it is his recollection
that a
TMS staff member signed in for them. Is it appropriate for a staff
member
to sign-in for a student?

It has also since come to my attention that the same bus driver
involved
in
this incident was recently reprimanded by TMS staff for leaving
these
very
same neighborhood children stranded at TMS one afternoon. I can only
imagine the reason that this driver was addressed for this
particular
incident was due to the fact that it occurred on school property
leaving
TMS staff directly responsible for the issue. This reprimand was for
an
incident 15 minutes in duration and while the children were still
under
the
supervision of TMS staff. We have multiple incidents where children
were
left completely unattended for much longer periods of time.

Unfortunately, as stated, there is a disturbing history with regards
to
this issue and I want to raise my own red flags and document the
issue
at
hand. I have no desire to debate this issue by phone or verbally in
any
form in order to avoid any “selective memory” issues that might
arise.
I
would however be more than happy to receive any explanation that the
county
might have to offer in writing.

I want to also address what appears to be a lack of planning by
Gwinnett
County School Systems in the event that a bus is unable to pickup
children
at the scheduled time. We live in a relatively small neighborhood
with
only
three stops. If a bus does not arrive on time our children have no
idea
as
to what they should do. Fortunately, I was home and available to
assist
on
this occasion, but upon making my way to my son’s stop found the bus
rider
kids milling around the neighborhood aimlessly. I believe that there
should
be a plan in place in the event that a bus is later than a
designated
period of time – say 15 minutes. The kids should be advised to rally
and
consolidate at a predetermined location. The kids and the bus
drivers
should have this location marked on the bus route map to avoid
confusion.
There is strength in numbers and this would add an additional layer
of
security.

Regards -

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

cc (via USPS Certified Mail): Louise Radloff, Ronni Ford, Grant
Reppert
xc: esq.

—– Original Message —–
From: M. Weingarten
To: Lynne_Davis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ;
Phillip_Curtis@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
;
Martha_Stephens@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Peggy_ONeill@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
;
Debbie_Moore@gwinnett.k12.ga.us ; Sandra_Holloway@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:40 PM
Subject: Missed Bus Pickup

To:
Martha Stephens
Peggy O’Neill
Debbie Moore
Sandra Holloway
Lynne Davis
Phillip Curtis

Re: Gwinnett County School Bus Missing Pickup Of Corinth Hills
Subdivision
On The Morning Of Wednesday, April 18, 2007

All -

First, thanks to Ms. Davis and Mr. Curtis for meeting with me this
morning
on such short notice to allow me to address my concerns and for
assisting
in resolving the issue of getting my son into class for testing.
Thanks
also for providing an appropriate county contact for me to
address…
but,
I would like to take exception with one statement Ms. Davis made
having
had the opportunity to reflect upon it for awhile. Whereas I can
appreciate Ms. Davis’ assertion that the county “owns the process of
transportation” and that the process is “out of her hands”,
ultimately
she
is responsible for those students enrolled at her school and am a
bit
disappointed that she didn’t feel compelled to seek a response that
would
at least attempt to satisfy the situation at hand and remedy same
for
any
similar future event.

The situation as I understand it:
Ms. Schwartz, the bus driver, arrived at our neighborhood on
schedule
to
find that one entrance was blocked by a Gwinnett County utility
crew.
The
driver opted not to enter our neighborhood, but to continue on with
the
rest of her route. This decision left 9 children in 6th, 7th and 8th
grade
abandoned without explanation and for a period of over an hour.

There is another entrance to our subdivision less than 1/8 of a mile
from
the entrance that was blocked. This other entrance was completely
clear
and on the same side of the road. Our subdivision has several
cul-de-sacs
that would allow for the driver to turn around. Having lived on one
of
these cul-de-sacs for 18 years and having multiple county school bus
drivers living in the neighborhood, I have personally witnessed
full-sized
county school buses make these turnarounds on many occasions.

Had the driver turned around after making her next pickups and
returned
to
pick up our children, the entire bus may have been five to ten
minutes
later than normal at arrival to TMS. Instead a group of students
made
it
on time while 9 others were left stranded and unattended. Was this a
wise
decision and is it acceptable?

1. I would like an explanation as to the decision making process
that
occurred this morning.

2. I would like to know if this decision was a sound one and
acceptable
to
all of those responsible for the safety of our children.

3. I would like to know what the decision would be should the same
situation present itself again in the future. This very same issue
has
occurred before with the exception that I was unable to intervene on
my
son’s behalf and subsequently he was penalized for the rest of the
day,
along with the other stranded bus riders, by having to spend the
remainder
of the day sequestered from the rest of their classmates due to
standardized testing that was taking place.

Regards -

Martin Weingarten
1646 Corinth Court
Stone Mountain, GA  30087
mweingarten@earthlink.net

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