Blame Runcie for Bungled School Buses
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Is Broward School Superintendent Robert Runcie taking us for a ride?
If he is, he better not use a school bus.
Runcie bungled the first day of school with the system’s botched school bus scheduling.
The inexcusable foul up which left thousands parents scrambling to find out what bus their children were taking.
Some will say Runcie isn’t responsible. He doesn’t hand out bus assignments.
I say, “Bunk!”
Runcie is responsible. The buck starts and stops with Robert Runcie.
Runcie anointed his Chicago crony, Chester Tindall to take over the bus transportation.
The superintendent’s hand-picked chum failed his first test.
Is this a firing offense for Runcie?
No.
But a few more of these and he should be out .
Are you paying attention School Board?
The public can’t vote for Runcie or tell him what to do. Only the School Board can.
Board members need to remember that inconvenienced parents become angry voters.
Members need to quit groveling at Runcie’s feet and start asking questions. Like member Nora Rupert, a Runcie skeptic, has done from the start.
Let me explain it in numbers.
There are thousands of parents that were inconvenienced over the weekend and others who missed work when their kids’ bus didn’t show up, according to multiple reports from numerous media outlets.
That’s thousands of parents who will look unfavorably towards giving the school system more money.
That’s thousands of parents who will look unfavorably towards voting for the incumbents. That’s you, Robin Bartleman and Donna Korn, the only members on the November ballot.
Runcie needs to crack down on the school bureaucrats. Make them do the job they are paid (quite nicely) to do.
Either these gold-plated managers do their job or Runcie should show them the door.
Either Runcie does his job or the School Board should show him the door.
August 21st, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Donna Korn is on the ballot also and she is an incumbent.
FROM BUDDY:
Thank you. Although she is not an incumbent, because she is running for seat she didn’t got appointed to. However, she is a member. I stand corrected and added her name. Both Bartleman and Korn voted to hire Runcie.
August 21st, 2012 at 3:27 pm
It’s like an Abbott and Costello movie….”Who’s on first…”…Runcie is Abbot and Tindell is Costello.
August 21st, 2012 at 4:26 pm
I agree Buddy, but if Runcie continues to not do the job well, and he is shown the door, how much do we need to pay him per the contract as to termination? When the contract is written these clauses never seem to get sufficiently addressed from the tax payer’s perspective. The news on all local TV channels covered parents scrambling to get info last Friday, Saturday and even Sunday, the day before the start of school. A special needs student on my FLL street whose bus has come at 6:45 am or so for many years showed up around 9:00am on Monday, the first day of school. That had to have been hectic at that house. Don’t the bus drivers do a ‘dry run’ of their routes a week ahead of time like they used to? So that buses know where they are going and where the stops are for the student pickups? How much are we paying these dept. heads and supervisors? You can’t fix stupid.
August 21st, 2012 at 5:16 pm
My buddy called the Transportation Department to plead them to movethe bus stop for their 11 year old daughter. they explained to the Transportation department that they placed a bus stop in front of a house with a convicted and registered child sexual predator. The transportation department stated that its not their problem.
August 21st, 2012 at 6:17 pm
You are right, Buddy, and it is up to the members of the School Board (and those running for same) to give meaning to the term “accountability.” Too often in the past we heard claims of staff accountability followed up by … nothing. I know Nora Rupert and Patti Good will be diligent and follow up, but how about Bartleman and Korn, who have come across as believing the district has turned the corner and Runcie is to be given every benefit of the doubt. Not sure such an opinion is fact-based, since the problems in transportation and facilities have been well documented for many years, with little hard evidence of improvement the past year. Enough is enough. Specific, public benchmarks need to be set. If there is no improvement by the end of the first semester (January 2013), the superintendent and the board should make it clear now that demotions and/or dismissals will result.
FROM BUDDY:
You are right, Nick. If public benchmarks haven’t been set, that needs to be done.
August 21st, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Nick is correct, and it’s especially ironic because Nick and Andrew Ladanowski documented the disaster in Transportation when they went to the depot at 5 a.m. and saw what was going on.
When Sup’t. Runcie brought Chester Tindall here, we were delighted to hear that he understood the problems and was charging Tindall with correcting them.
What a disappointment. And this isn’t the only one, unfortunately.
Nick’s right on and the board members need to start getting serious about accountability from the top down.
August 21st, 2012 at 10:51 pm
It is very interesting, and more than a little amusing to me, when people are now chastising the SB members for not questioning a superintendent or holding his feet to the fire. When Till was Supt., he was not unlike Runcie is now, and the board members who questioned Till back then were criticized and accused of micro-managing. When enough of the Bd members had enough of Till not answering to the board, they canned him, getting even more criticism from the public.
Now the Bd is being criticized for NOT doing what it was that they DID do with Till. Just goes to show that you can’t make the public happy no matter what you do.
August 22nd, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Oh come on! Even an idiot knows that seldom is it right to respond to 2 DIFFERENT situations and dynamics the same. The reality is this- a competent Board member would realize what the best approach is for the situation or dynamic at hand. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that.
August 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Parents want results! I think that there are enough informed people on the board to recognize and fix the issue that parents are dealing with when it comes to transportation. There needs to be accountability for failure to correct problems that we all know exist within our school system, these are not new problems with transportation or accountability. Start sending the right message to us, the parents, that you are not going to let these things continue for another month or year. Till is gone, Runcie is here, apples and oranges as far as I’m concerned. People are highlighting issues that need to be addressed now. It is not wrong for a parent to expect a more pro active stand on reoccurring issues! I for one don’t want anymore excuses I want progression!
August 22nd, 2012 at 7:10 pm
I believe that Rupert was right on with her opinion of Runcie!
August 23rd, 2012 at 11:35 am
Last year the Board conducted a major effort to pin down ways the district could offer better ‘customer service.’ Countless volunteers gave hours of their time, because everyone was wondering what could be done to stop the flow of children to charter schools.
This fiasco is a perfect example of the kind of mess that drives parents away. It is unthinkable that no one checked to see that the troubled Transportation Department with it’s new leader, had things under control for the first day of school. The August 20th start date has been on the calendar for months–they can’t claim it was a surprise!
August 24th, 2012 at 8:09 am
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-music-teacher-texts-termination-20120823,0,7904376.story
Here is a huge part of the problem. Nothing to do with buses, but everything to do with the Schools. In this story, Runcie “recommends” the pervert be fired. WTF! Even perverts can’t be fired on the spot in this skool system, so people who just make a “minor” mistake like messing up the bus schedule can expect a long career and full retirement benefits.