Can you believe what a day, in one day the Principal from Alafia Elementary is FINALLY leaving, and in the same breath we have had School Board Member Jennifer Fallerio trying to control all media and blogging in regard to Hillsborough County Schools....hmmm what's a matter, the people are speaking and rising up against the machine?????????????
Let Freedom Ring..................................
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Whistle Blowers
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Whistle Blowers
I received this question on a different topic post and felt it deserved a discussion thread of it's own.
QUESTION:
April, I know that this is not the proper forum for this question or comment, but what do you think about the growing number of education blogs dedicated to the many serious problems within the HCPS?
What advice can you provide those bloggers who want their stories to come out but are afraid of being retaliated against. These are your constituents and they need your help. Any suggestions?
MY ANSWER:
5 comments
QUESTION:
April, I know that this is not the proper forum for this question or comment, but what do you think about the growing number of education blogs dedicated to the many serious problems within the HCPS?
What advice can you provide those bloggers who want their stories to come out but are afraid of being retaliated against. These are your constituents and they need your help. Any suggestions?
MY ANSWER:
As you can see I support blogs. You are protected by the 1st amendment of the US constitution.
I am very supportive of any medium that encourages transparency. That being said I would hope that the intent of any blog is to create a better school district in the end, not just to hurt the district or individuals without the ultimate goal being continuous improvement.
As for advice for bloggers I would say to try to resolve problems through proper channels with the blogs as the last avenue of attempting to have your story heard.
One of the channels available is the whistle blowers policy. I will list it below.
Also, my contact information is listed on this site. Do not hesitate contacting me or any other board members you trust for aid.
Here is policy for reporting violations:
6.31 -- REPORTING OF VIOLATIONS SUMMARY OF PROCEDURES -- (Adopted: 6/18/02)
Definitions:As used in these procedures, the following words or terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Agency means the school board, any official of the school board or any public school. Employee means any person hired by the school board after completing the personnel procedures required.
Independent contractor means any person or company, other than a school board employee, who provides goods and/or services to the school board and enters into a contractual agreement with the school board.
Adverse personnel action means the discharge, suspension, or demotion of any employee or the withholding of bonuses, the reduction in salary or benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an employee within the terms and conditions of employment by an agency or independent contractor.
Gross mismanagement means a continuous pattern of managerial abuses, wrongful or arbitrary and capricious actions, or fraudulent or criminal conduct that may have a substantial adverse economic impact.
Protected Individuals:
Employees of the school board, independent contractors for the school board or other persons who disclose information on their own initiative in a written and signed complaint, or who are requested to participate in an investigation, hearing or other inquiry conducted by any local, state or federal governmental agency, or who refuse to participate in any adverse action prohibited by this policy are protected by the policy.
Nature of Information Disclosed:
The information disclosed under this section shall include:
Any violation or suspected violation of federal, state or local laws, school board policies, procedures or regulations committed by an employee, an agent of the school board, or an independent contractor that creates and presents a substantial and specific danger to the public's health, safety, welfare or to the school board's interests.
Any act or suspected act of gross mismanagement, malfeasance, misfeasance, gross waste of public funds or gross neglect of duty committed by an employee, an agent of the school district or an independent contractor.
To Whom to Disclose Information:
The written signed complaint shall be disclosed to the superintendent of schools, or designee, or to an appropriate school board entity having the authority to investigate, police, manage or otherwise remedy the violation or act.
Confidentiality:
1. The name or identity of any individual who discloses violation information in good faith is confidential. This identity shall not be disclosed to anyone other than the department or agency empowered to investigate unless: The identity disclosure is necessary to prevent a substantial and specific danger to the public's health, safety or welfare. If it is determined that the disclosure of the information is absolutely necessary for this reason, it may be disclosed only to persons who are in a position to prevent the danger or to prevent the imminent commission of a crime based on the disclosed information; or The disclosure is unavoidable and absolutely necessary during the course of the investigation; or The disclosure is otherwise required by law; or The disclosure is necessary in order for the school board to defend or prosecute an employee regarding the subject matter of the employee complaint.
2. All information received initially and produced from fact-finding or investigations related to the disclosure is confidential and is exempt from a public records request while the investigation is active.
Employee Obligations:
1. It is the obligation and essential duty of an employee to report any and all suspected acts of criminal conduct, mismanagement, unethical behavior or any other inappropriate conduct, act or failure to act by any other employee or independent contractor.
2. The failure to make such report shall be grounds for disciplinary action against the employee.
Actions Prohibited:
1. The school board, agents of the school board or independent contractors are prohibited from taking retaliatory action or adverse personnel action against any employee who reports violations or discloses information covered under this policy.
2. The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable when an employee or person discloses information known by the employee or person to be false.
3. No remedy or other protection under this policy applies to any person who has committed or intentionally participated in committing the violation or suspected violation for which protection under the policy is being sought.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Hillsborough Schools Won't Alter Bus Routes Next Year
Schools won't alter bus routes next year
By Letitia Stein, Times staff writer Published Monday, October 27, 2008 10:16 PM
TAMPA — After botching the rollout of bus route changes this fall, Hillsborough school officials are calling off plans for more sweeping revisions next year.
That affects families around New Tampa, the university area, Brandon and Plant City — all slated for overhaul next year. Now the families should be spared the confusion the rest of the county experienced.
Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said Monday that the district will spend the next year making sure buses are running smoothly in the communities where routes already were revamped.
"We recognize that there were issues with the implementation of the changes," she said. "I don't want to add any additional areas to the stress for next year."
She pledged to have the school bus system, which transports 90,000 students daily, working as efficiently as possible before going into the remaining parts of the county to finish up the route changes.
School officials are still diagnosing what went wrong this fall. They produced a long list of shortcomings Monday morning during a School Board workshop on the topic.
Parents are only too familiar with many of the troubles cited.
Scores of families never received letters mailed over the summer detailing student bus route information. With schools similarly in the dark, parents flooded the phone lines at a transportation call center unequipped for such volume.
Ultimately, school officials increased staffing at the call center and parents could get through without long waits. But the officials heard outrage from the community. The district plans to improve communication efforts next year.
That's not to say that parents can expect to hear the answers they want. The district fielded many complaints about children who no longer qualify for free rides because they live too far from school. With money tight, that "courtesy busing'' is unlikely to come back soon. Other children will continue to walk farther to bus stops.
John Franklin, Hillsborough's general director of transportation, sees some positives amid the problems. He noted that Hillsborough has eliminated 3,000 bus stops. It is doing a better job of filling buses with students and getting them to school on time.
He said the department learned many lessons from this year's failures, including the need to have better internal systems to track students and revisions to bus routes.
The district has dispatched a team to identify every breakdown in this year's transportation program. A report and recommendations are expected in December.
Some remaining issues won't come as a surprise.
"If tomorrow was the first day of school, what would still be our biggest challenges?" board member Doretha Edgecomb asked.
"The communication piece," Franklin answered without hesitation. "Making sure that everyone is aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it."
Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3400. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.
>>FAST FACTS
Affected areas
Hillsborough school officials are phasing in bus route changes in seven geographic areas in the district. To see which area your school is located in, visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/AreaDirectors.
Time line for bus route changes:
2007-08: Pilot in Area 5 (southeast Hillsborough).
2008-09: Rollout in Areas 1, 2 and 4 (South and central Tampa and northwest Hillsborough).
2009-10: Rollout called off for Areas 3, 6 and 7 (New Tampa, the university area, northeast Hillsborough).
2010-11: Tentative final rollout for remaining three areas.
By Letitia Stein, Times staff writer Published Monday, October 27, 2008 10:16 PM
TAMPA — After botching the rollout of bus route changes this fall, Hillsborough school officials are calling off plans for more sweeping revisions next year.
That affects families around New Tampa, the university area, Brandon and Plant City — all slated for overhaul next year. Now the families should be spared the confusion the rest of the county experienced.
Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said Monday that the district will spend the next year making sure buses are running smoothly in the communities where routes already were revamped.
"We recognize that there were issues with the implementation of the changes," she said. "I don't want to add any additional areas to the stress for next year."
She pledged to have the school bus system, which transports 90,000 students daily, working as efficiently as possible before going into the remaining parts of the county to finish up the route changes.
School officials are still diagnosing what went wrong this fall. They produced a long list of shortcomings Monday morning during a School Board workshop on the topic.
Parents are only too familiar with many of the troubles cited.
Scores of families never received letters mailed over the summer detailing student bus route information. With schools similarly in the dark, parents flooded the phone lines at a transportation call center unequipped for such volume.
Ultimately, school officials increased staffing at the call center and parents could get through without long waits. But the officials heard outrage from the community. The district plans to improve communication efforts next year.
That's not to say that parents can expect to hear the answers they want. The district fielded many complaints about children who no longer qualify for free rides because they live too far from school. With money tight, that "courtesy busing'' is unlikely to come back soon. Other children will continue to walk farther to bus stops.
John Franklin, Hillsborough's general director of transportation, sees some positives amid the problems. He noted that Hillsborough has eliminated 3,000 bus stops. It is doing a better job of filling buses with students and getting them to school on time.
He said the department learned many lessons from this year's failures, including the need to have better internal systems to track students and revisions to bus routes.
The district has dispatched a team to identify every breakdown in this year's transportation program. A report and recommendations are expected in December.
Some remaining issues won't come as a surprise.
"If tomorrow was the first day of school, what would still be our biggest challenges?" board member Doretha Edgecomb asked.
"The communication piece," Franklin answered without hesitation. "Making sure that everyone is aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it."
Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3400. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.
>>FAST FACTS
Affected areas
Hillsborough school officials are phasing in bus route changes in seven geographic areas in the district. To see which area your school is located in, visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/AreaDirectors.
Time line for bus route changes:
2007-08: Pilot in Area 5 (southeast Hillsborough).
2008-09: Rollout in Areas 1, 2 and 4 (South and central Tampa and northwest Hillsborough).
2009-10: Rollout called off for Areas 3, 6 and 7 (New Tampa, the university area, northeast Hillsborough).
2010-11: Tentative final rollout for remaining three areas.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Hillsborough District Continues To Roll Out Bus System Fixes
Hillsborough District Continues To Roll Out Bus System Fixes
By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 27, 2008
TAMPA - Families in Plant City, Brandon, New Tampa and the area around King High School likely won't deal with the transportation changes next year that put other areas in chaos this year.
"The recommendation for next year is not to add any areas," Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said today during a school board workshop on transportation.
Problems are still being analyzed, six members of the Hillsborough County School Board learned when they gathered for a workshop at 9 a.m. today.
Next up are focus groups in November with drivers, exceptional student education staff, magnet program staff, principals, some school staff and parents. Board member Doretha Edgecomb asked that students also be included.
The district's transportation department came under fire even before schools opened Aug. 18. Phone lines were jammed, and hundreds of parents couldn't get through to get information on bus stop changes even after school opened.
To save money and be more efficient, the district has been phasing in a new plan that places bus stops farther apart, halts courtesy bus service to many families who live less than two miles from their school and also cut bus service to many private day care centers after school.
Planned changes include a Web site that will allow parents to view their bus stops before the 2009-10 school year begins, although how that will work remains a question. The district's transportation chief, John Franklin, said today that the system the district is considering would require parents to register and receive a user name and password to access their child's bus stop information.
A major problem this year was keeping bus stop information from schools so school staff wouldn't have to deal with it. Parents were told to call the transportation call center, which was overwhelmed with calls.
The eight people originally answering those calls put people on hold while they tried to get answers to questions instead of just taking numbers, Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero said.
"They were trying to answer the question then," Otero said, leaving other callers unable to get through.
Along with early notification of stops next year, a new system handling calls will be in effect, Franklin said.
Many callers this year simply wanted a return to bus service they got in the past or a change in bus stops, Franklin said. After the meeting he estimated there have been 300 requests for changes to bus stops, with about 50 approved.
The district still is short 178 permanent bus drivers, he said. Board members suggested an incentive plan to encourage driver attendance.
Also planned is having drivers practice proposed routes before the first day of school to identify problems, a practice that was routine in past years.
A committee is looking at school bell times to see whether adjustments need to be made to make transportation run more smoothly.
Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 mbrown@tampatrib.com.
Find this article at: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/27/hillsborough-district-continues-roll-out-bus-syste/news-metro
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By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 27, 2008
TAMPA - Families in Plant City, Brandon, New Tampa and the area around King High School likely won't deal with the transportation changes next year that put other areas in chaos this year.
"The recommendation for next year is not to add any areas," Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said today during a school board workshop on transportation.
Problems are still being analyzed, six members of the Hillsborough County School Board learned when they gathered for a workshop at 9 a.m. today.
Next up are focus groups in November with drivers, exceptional student education staff, magnet program staff, principals, some school staff and parents. Board member Doretha Edgecomb asked that students also be included.
The district's transportation department came under fire even before schools opened Aug. 18. Phone lines were jammed, and hundreds of parents couldn't get through to get information on bus stop changes even after school opened.
To save money and be more efficient, the district has been phasing in a new plan that places bus stops farther apart, halts courtesy bus service to many families who live less than two miles from their school and also cut bus service to many private day care centers after school.
Planned changes include a Web site that will allow parents to view their bus stops before the 2009-10 school year begins, although how that will work remains a question. The district's transportation chief, John Franklin, said today that the system the district is considering would require parents to register and receive a user name and password to access their child's bus stop information.
A major problem this year was keeping bus stop information from schools so school staff wouldn't have to deal with it. Parents were told to call the transportation call center, which was overwhelmed with calls.
The eight people originally answering those calls put people on hold while they tried to get answers to questions instead of just taking numbers, Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero said.
"They were trying to answer the question then," Otero said, leaving other callers unable to get through.
Along with early notification of stops next year, a new system handling calls will be in effect, Franklin said.
Many callers this year simply wanted a return to bus service they got in the past or a change in bus stops, Franklin said. After the meeting he estimated there have been 300 requests for changes to bus stops, with about 50 approved.
The district still is short 178 permanent bus drivers, he said. Board members suggested an incentive plan to encourage driver attendance.
Also planned is having drivers practice proposed routes before the first day of school to identify problems, a practice that was routine in past years.
A committee is looking at school bell times to see whether adjustments need to be made to make transportation run more smoothly.
Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 mbrown@tampatrib.com.
Find this article at: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/27/hillsborough-district-continues-roll-out-bus-syste/news-metro
EMAIL THIS Close
Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Florida Department of Education Technical Assistance Paper about Transportation as a Related Service
http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/y2001-13.pdf
Transportation as a Related Service, FLDOE Technical Assistance Paper on Transportation
TASH Transportation.pdf
An Overview of Special Education Transportation. A Primer for Parents and Educators
was produced in partnership among the following,
LRP Publications of Palm Beach Gardens Florida, is the national leader in special education publications
.http://www.ped.state.nm.us/seo/library/transguide.pdf
HCPS Transportation Department Laws, Rules, Policies, and Procedures http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/transportation/pdf/lawsrules.pdf
HCPS Student Handbook 2008-2009, page 50,
http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/AdminDiv/Documents/StudentHandbook/
HCPS School Bus Rider (Attendant) Qualifications,
http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/transportation/busrider.asp
http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/y2001-13.pdf
Transportation as a Related Service, FLDOE Technical Assistance Paper on Transportation
TASH Transportation.pdf
An Overview of Special Education Transportation. A Primer for Parents and Educators
was produced in partnership among the following,
LRP Publications of Palm Beach Gardens Florida, is the national leader in special education publications
.http://www.ped.state.nm.us/seo/library/transguide.pdf
HCPS Transportation Department Laws, Rules, Policies, and Procedures http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/transportation/pdf/lawsrules.pdf
HCPS Student Handbook 2008-2009, page 50,
http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/AdminDiv/Documents/StudentHandbook/
HCPS School Bus Rider (Attendant) Qualifications,
http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/transportation/busrider.asp
Hillsborough County ESE Bus Transportation Survey
Please fill out the survey below to show how your experience with Bus Transportation changes and lack of notification of these bus changes in Hillsborough County has effected your family this year
ESE Bus Transportation Survey for
Hillsborough County Schools 2008/2009 School Year
ESE TRANSPORTATION SURVEY FOR PARENTS
This is an attempt by parents of ESE Students to collaborate district wide with Hillsborough County Public Schools in resolving systemic violations regarding public transportation as a related service for students with disabilities for the 2008-2009 school year.
Below is a link to the survey it is broken into 2 parts please fill out and submit
There are 2 parts to the survey please fill out both :)
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