On Sept. 4,I called ONCE again and finally after many calls reached a human voice.Was told by the lady on the phone that my complaint would be forwarded to her supervisor.Was never called back.In fact i have never recieved a call back EVER.They need to change their voice mail recording.Don't know what school your child attends,but if they are getting referrals for being late i would demand that they be removed from her record.I would also reccomend that you make a visit to her school and talk to the principal or vice principal.My complaint to the transportation office finally did some good after about 2 weeks.Guess that's the best I could hope for.Good luck.ClairJhean said:
Another failing grade for the St. Mary's Co. School bus transportation
- Thread starter mondoman
- Start date
If her daughter is late getting to school then there are other kids riding that same bus who are late also......doesn't take an educated guess as to why they are arriving late.The administrators from that school should also be able to see exactlly when that bus pulls up to the school.Shame on them for waiting a month to do something about it.Dymphna said:I read her post as the teacher complained about the bus and the principal wanted to know the story from the kid's point of view. :shrug:
ClairJhean
New Member
Yes you are right. And I will find out more today when my daughter gets home. I have gone to the school and phoned them. THey referred me to the trans. Dept. WHich i told them that I did that before and I did it last year.. and nothing was done adn i told them this time I will Hold htem responsible because my daughters education should be important and told them I wont tolerate any excuses and tha ti dont expect to see any late notices for her that are due to bus problems. My daughter catches the bus at 8:30- 8:35 and yet she is still late???
SO we shall see after today.. I told them if she was late today that I was going there.
SO we shall see after today.. I told them if she was late today that I was going there.
ClairJhean
New Member
SOrry so late with this reply but so far so good with the Bus situation.. As for other staff in the school.. another story... UGH...
edgeofarson69
New Member
Problems abound with the bus routes
We have lived in the same house for 6 yrs. EVERY YEAR there has been a problem with the busses. This year, no bus came, my 6th grader stood in the rain for nearly 40 minutes waiting, several busses passed him and waved. Same deal, when I call, I get nasty treatment on the phone and blamed like it was my fault for not calling sooner. Seems like if they did a practice run during the last few weeks of summer, it might help weed out some of the problems. What a mess. There were maybe 40 or 50 kids in the same boat by the time I did get my child to school. I work in Waldorf, so thank heavens I was still in Leon.
We have lived in the same house for 6 yrs. EVERY YEAR there has been a problem with the busses. This year, no bus came, my 6th grader stood in the rain for nearly 40 minutes waiting, several busses passed him and waved. Same deal, when I call, I get nasty treatment on the phone and blamed like it was my fault for not calling sooner. Seems like if they did a practice run during the last few weeks of summer, it might help weed out some of the problems. What a mess. There were maybe 40 or 50 kids in the same boat by the time I did get my child to school. I work in Waldorf, so thank heavens I was still in Leon.
awpitt
Main Streeter
edgeofarson69 said:
Just wondering, did you go to your school's open house and verify the bus number for your kid? Why did you let you kid stand out there for 40 minutes? If you address the problems with the transportation office, be sure to do as much communication in writting as possible. That way you'll have a paper trail that you can use in case you have to take the problem to higher levels.
Dymphna
Loyalty, Friendship, Love
The problem is with the contractor system of buses. The BoE contracts with something in the neighborhood of 200 bus owners, each owning from 1 to 4 buses. Charles and I think Calvert each use one bus company. Some conscientious bus drivers/owners have always done practice runs, but they were unpaid. This is the first year, bus drivers were actually paid to drive their routes in advance, in their buses rather than personal vehicles.edgeofarson69 said:
The bus routes are published online. Our neighborhood is on it, but not our actual address (elementary school, they stop at each house). I was a tad concerned that the transportation department doesn't know where we are, but I knew my bus driver knew...sure enough, Monday morning she stopped by our house on her trial run.
Because of the system St. Mary's uses, if some bus messes up, the school has to figure out which of 15 to 30 bus owners they have to call up and scold. The other advantage to having fewer bus owners is they can afford to have substitute drivers and spare buses readily available. As it is, if an owner has, say 3 buses and one driver calls in sick, they end up calling up a retired driver, another owner who doesn't actually drive anymore, or someone else who owes them a favor. And heaven forbid a bus breaks down.
thegreatsnozz
New Member
lil_daisy said:D-
glad something GOOD came of today's events. I was behind a bus that did turn into your development this AM, and thought of your guy. I was behind it taking my 4 YO and baby. Nice to know there are good samaritans for our children around here. For the fill in driver- send a note of appreciation to Tom Kracinovich (Sp?) or Reed Walker. Walker received a round of kudos for solving a nasty, cig smokin', cross, contracted bus driver issue I had a year ago. That wrench got replaced by an awesome driver last year! My son also has the great fortune of having the same driver for the homebound route. YAY!
Yes and Tom and Reed's reward was to have the Superintendent to hire a Director to oversee them. When the position was posted, they were told by the Chief Operating Officer to not bother to apply for it because they did not qualify. SMCPS really stands behind their employees! Looks like this new Director is doing a bang up job.
thegreatsnozz
New Member
mondoman said:
No surprise the person(Chief Operating Officer) who runs Supporting Services and is responsible for the transportation office is a dolt who would not know "customer service" if it reached up and bit him in the crotch.
kwillia
n/a
6th grade is a new school and thus a new stop for the standard bus routes. We had the same problem when my first born graduated to middle school and then when he graduated to high school (new stop for the standard high school route). I learned from the middle school change over so when he was going into the 9th grade, I made it a point to call the transportation department prior to the start of school. It took a few days to get it straight, but they had it straight before the first day of school that year. You may want to remember this for when yours will be switching to the next school level in three years.edgeofarson69 said:
I didn't get anything in the mail concerning buses when I received the kids schedule and school supply list, which I though was odd. I must admit that I procrastinated(sp.?) about calling the schools or visiting the website and before I knew it, it was the first day of school 
. I just sent them out a few minutes earlier than last year. Thanks to my neighbor who scooped them up and dropped them off so that they wouldn't have to stand and wait. 
. I just sent them out a few minutes earlier than last year. Thanks to my neighbor who scooped them up and dropped them off so that they wouldn't have to stand and wait.
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awpitt
Main Streeter
Don't know if they're in the Enterprise but the school's Website has them.kom526 said:
http://www.smcps.org/offices/dss/transportation/bus_route_info.shtml
Fingel_Hymer
Restricted User
5thstreet said:I totally agree and from what I learned this new director has NO experience in Transportation what so ever. GO Firgure!!!
Now now. Be careful out there.
Any one who comes out to do any bad mouthing of the school system will be berated by some of the protectors of SMCPS on here. They might even begin to think you are one in the same as some of us who also have had a problem with that administration.
Heaven forbid
FromTexas might even call you "gay". 
Fingel_Hymer said:Now now. Be careful out there.
Any one who comes out to do any bad mouthing of the school system will be berated by some of the protectors of SMCPS on here. They might even begin to think you are one in the same as some of us who also have had a problem with that administration.
Heaven forbid
I believe in most of the staff at SMCPS is doing their best with what they have to work with but not the Ego-manic that is running the ship. He has his own agenda. If someone on this board disagrees with my opinion then so be it. This is America and we all have a right to say what we want to a extend. As you may know if you have work or know someone who has work in the school system it is a mess and is going down hill. They are going to continue to lose decent staff and find themselves in trouble. I would recommend those who are left find work somewhere else because their voices are not gonna be heard.