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Protest Starts At A Stop

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By LIZ BLEAU, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2007

BRANDON - To many parents, it seemed nonsensical.

A plan to make school bus service more efficient meant their children would have to cross Bell Shoals Road, one of the busiest north-south arteries in Brandon, just as commuters were rushing to work from their houses, condos and town homes in this booming bedroom community.

'Having any child cross such a busy road as Bell Shoals is the most dangerous thing I have ever heard of ... ,' parent Pearl Chiarenza said in an angry Internet missive on the first day of school Aug. 20.

She and other parents of schoolchildren in the Southoak, River Rapids and Indian Hills subdivisions joined forces in an all-out assault on the Hillsborough County school district's new Transportation Improvement Plan, which altered routes and stops in the Brandon area.

Last week, the parents won a small victory.

After a public protest at the Southoak bus stop Aug. 27, the school district agreed to move that stop and others so students won't have to cross Bell Shoals Road to board buses.

But for some parents, the school district isn't doing enough to keep their children safe. They say they don't want their children anywhere near Bell Shoals and will push to have stops inside their subdivisions.

Chiarenza, who lives in Southoak and helped organize the protest, said the district's decision to move the bus stop outside the subdivision is not acceptable.

'It's still not a safe place for our kids to be, along Bell Shoals Road,' she said.

John Franklin, the school district's new general manager of transportation, said changes were well researched.

The school district 'spent a lot of time evaluating the routes. As we get parental input, there have been cases where we've made some adjustments.'

Eliminating the bus stop inside Southoak and other nearby subdivisions is part of the district's Transportation Improvement Plan. Area 5, which includes parts of southern and eastern Hillsborough County, was the first to see bus route changes, and other parts of the county will be phased in during the next year.

District officials said the changes are designed to trim costs and make the system more efficient. The plan calls for fewer bus stops; a minimum of 500 feet between stops instead of the 250 feet previously permitted; more stops at intersections and fewer in the middle of blocks; no fewer than two or more than 20 students assigned to each stop; and no bus runs down narrow, dead-end or one-way streets.

About seven parents and seven children carried signs at the Southoak bus stop during the protest, drawing the attention of passers-by and motorists - many of whom honked in apparent support.

Chiarenza's 10-year-old son, Matthew, who goes to Cimino Elementary School, chanted 'second-graders at risk' as he waved his sign.

Franklin spoke with the parents at the Southoak stop after the elementary children boarded their bus.

He listened to the parents' complaints and promised to review the issues and respond to them within 24 hours. Later that afternoon, he called Chiarenza to say the district would move the bus stops at Southoak and the other subdivisions to 'door side' of the buses, meaning students wouldn't have to cross Bell Shoals.

Chiarenza said that is not good enough. Requiring children to wait on either side of Bell Shoals is not safe, she said, adding that the absence of sidewalks inside Southoak makes the journey to Bell Shoals dangerous.

She also noted that down the street, on the east side of Bell Shoals, the school buses enter subdivisions to collect students.

Franklin said the district uses no set criterion to decide whether a bus will enter a subdivision. 'There are a number of factors to be considered,' he said, including safety issues and the best ways for buses to change direction.

Stephanie Kelly, also of Southoak, said she is not pleased with the district's decision to move the bus stop across the street.

'This is not acceptable,' she said. The bus stop 'is still on Bell Shoals Road.' Kelly, who has four children, said she wants the bus stop moved back inside the subdivision. 'We had it for six years, and it worked well,' she said.

Sheryl Hickle of Indian Hills said she has been actively following the bus stop changes since she first heard about them in April. She said she called the transportation department and left messages, but no one called her back for months, and she wasn't satisfied with the ultimate response.

'We used to have a great bus driver and great service,' she said. 'Now, I am so frustrated by the lack of response.'

Parents in the three Brandon subdivisions weren't the only ones looking for answers when the new bus routes took effect.

Franklin said the transportation department call center received many calls after school opened. On one of the busiest days, the first Friday after opening day, about 1,200 people called, but the following week telephone traffic seemed to slow down.

Chiarenza said she will try to meet with school board members to gain support for reinstatement of the old bus stop.

Franklin said he does not plan any other changes to bus stops along Bell Shoals.

'We have made the accommodations we can make,' he said.

Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com.

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