—– Original Message —–
From: <lradloff@comcast.net
To: “M. Weingarten” <mweingarten@earthlink.net
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 3:08 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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GCPS Concerns And Attempted Resolutions 