Parent gives school transport a failing grade, requests audit

BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent

BRICK - One township parent says the Brick Township school district is missing the bus when it comes to servicing the transportation needs of its students.

At the Board of Education's pre-agenda meeting Oct. 4, Appleton Drive resident Stacy Lubrecht, speaking on her own behalf and for other parents, said that the district's transportation department is unresponsive and broken.

"There's a 9 a.m. start at Emma Havens [Young Elementary School] and the buses are pulling in at 9:08 a.m.," said Lubrecht, who has two children enrolled at Emma Havens and a third at the Primary Learning Center. "We're in October and our kids are still getting to school after the start."

Aside from school bus delays, Lubrecht said she's also personally experienced a problem with bus drivers not releasing her 4-year-old son, Jack, to an authorized emergency contact person.

Lubrecht said that on two separate occasions she needed her neighbor, who is her authorized emergency contact, to meet her son's bus because she was delayed.

On the first occasion, the driver and aide refused to release her son to her contact and the child was taken back to Primary Learning Center, where Lubrecht had to go to pick him up. On the second occasion, Lubrecht said her son was released to her neighbor, but only after much conversation between the driver, aide and the transportation department.

"Is not the purpose of the forms we complete in triplicate to minimize confusion in case an emergency contact is needed?" Lubrecht asked the board.

Lubrecht said that at the beginning of the year she was issued incorrect bus passes and bus stop information for her fourth-grade twins, Megan and Griffin.

To correct the problem, Lubrecht left a week's worth of voice-mail messages for the transportation department, but her calls were never returned. When she tried to leave a message the following week, the mailbox system was full and Lubrecht was directed to try her call again later.

Although the principal at Emma Havens was able to solve her problem, Lubrecht said that the real crux of the issue is that the transportation department hasn't responded to her phone calls.

She said she had a similar problem with unreturned phone calls last year when the school bus failed to pick up her son for the first two days of school. By the third day of school, the principal at the Primary Learning Center had to intercede to get Jack picked up for school.

And again, at the end of the last school year, Lubrecht said she tried to contact the transportation department to complain when Jack's driver and aide were taken off his bus route with only a few months left in the school year due to "seniority issues."

Lubrecht said the change was traumatic for her son, Jack, who is enrolled in the special education preschool program.

"At the very least, you have to call a parent back. This is a huge customer service issue," Lubrecht said. "A lot of parents have the same concerns."

Although she couldn't give an exact number of parents who've expressed similar concerns about the transportation department, Lubrecht said that the problems are widespread.

"Let me put it this way. I don't ever think I've ever had a conversation when someone didn't say, 'I had a similar problem,' " said Lubrecht, who requested a full audit of the transportation department.

"It wasn't a smooth process this year. I'm the first to admit it," said district Business Administrator Nicholas Puleio. "We bus 13,600 pupils a day, including nonpublic school students, and it's a daunting task, but one we are supposed to do well."

Resident Judy Canfield said Tuesday that she resorted to driving her fourth-grade son to school due to the lack of a steady driver and ensuing problems.

"I did hear a steady driver is on the route now, so I will be sending him on the bus again," Canfield said. "Now the bus is ridable again."

Canfield said she, too, has heard parents complain about school transportation.

"People do have issues," she said.

Puleio said he would contact transportation department head Bill Nardiello following the Oct. 4 meeting to discuss Lubrecht's concerns.

Puleio said he would look into hiring an outside auditor to conduct an operational audit on the department, Lubrecht said.

"I'm going to hold them to that," Lubrecht said. "I hope that is the case."

She said she was encouraged by Puleio's response so far.

The district is currently in negotiations with its Transport Workers Union, which represents the district's bus drivers, food service workers, cafeteria workers, groundskeepers, maintenance workers and clerical staff.

The district's current contract with TWU Local 225 Branch 4 expired June 30.