—– Original Message —–
From: <lradloff@comcast.net
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Missed Bus Pickup – Follow-Up
Thank-you for sharing your experience with one of our buses. I apoligize
for any concern it caused parents re safety. The safety of our students
is aq critical concern. I will speak with transportation director and
Mr. James Steele. Again I appreciate you contacting me – Louise Radloff
————– Original message ———————-
From: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
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=-3394
1&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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