After a girl is killed crossing a six-lane highway, the school district opens an investigation.
By ROBERT FARLEY
Published October 13, 2004
CLEARWATER - The bus driver who regularly dropped Rebecca McKinney and her sister off on McMullen-Booth Road knew the girls had to cross the busy, six-lane highway but never reported it to supervisors, a Pinellas School Board attorney said Tuesday.
The district's transportation policy is clear that no students should have to cross multiple-lane highways, said Terry Palmer, the district's transportation chief.
"They (bus drivers) should report these kinds of things," Palmer said.
Rebecca was struck by a pickup Friday as she and her sister tried to cross the road. The 16-year-old Clearwater High School junior died Sunday at Bayfront Medical Center.
The district's routing coordinators are given clear direction about flagging bus stops where students may be crossing multiple lanes, but it's less clear if bus drivers know it's their responsibility too, Palmer said. "We are looking at the handbook and what kind of direction we're giving on these kinds of things," he said.
In an initial interview, Rebecca's bus driver "said she knew the girls were going across the street and had been doing so since last year," said School Board attorney John Bowen.
Bowen said the bus driver did not report the information to a supervisor. The investigation into how the McKinneys were assigned a bus stop on the east side of McMullen-Booth will consider whether any disciplinary measures are warranted, Palmer said.
"We will look at what the policies were and what people did or didn't do," he said.
On Tuesday, Rebecca's mother, Sally, said her daughter was assigned to the McMullen-Booth stop several years ago after she complained that her daughters were beaten up and bullied at another bus stop on the west side of McMullen-Booth Road where their home is located.
McKinney said the transportation department gave her a choice: "Either cross a six-lane highway or send her to a bus stop to get beat up."
"The first bus stop wasn't acceptable," she said. "At the alternative bus stop they got beat up. Neither bus stop was safe for the children.
"They didn't care if this was a safe bus stop for my children," she said. "They do need to provide safe stops if someone is being harassed or bullied. ... The school system didn't give me any choice."
McKinney said she complained to transportation officials repeatedly in years past about the stop on McMullen-Booth Road, but didn't complain this year.
"You complain for five years, you get tired of complaining," she said. "But maybe if I had complained some more Rebecca would still be here."
Palmer insisted that if a parent complains about their child having to cross a multiple-lane highway, the transportation department immediately finds an alternate bus or re-routes the bus.
"The question needs to be asked, "Who specifically did she complain to?' " he said. "Our records don't necessarily jibe with what the mother is saying."
Palmer said he had no knowledge of McKinney being offered a choice of stops in years past.
But if a student is being bullied at a bus stop, he said, "From my perspective, the schools are in a better position to deal with that from a discipline standpoint."
Debbie Hembrey, a family friend of the McKinneys, said Rebecca's original bus stop was at Bayview Drive and Drew Street, but another girl at the bus stop beat up Rebecca when she was in sixth grade. The girl was sent to an alternative school for a time, but then returned to the same bus stop, Hembrey said. That's when McKinney asked for another stop for her daughters and was offered the choice of the old stop or the one on the east side of McMullen-Booth just south of Ruth Eckerd Hall, she said.
District officials said they could not discuss an individual student's situation. But the accident has prompted transportation officials to re-check routes.
Palmer urged parents to call the transportation department's help line at (727) 547-7174 if their child's stop requires them to cross a multiple-lane highway. So far there have not been many calls about similar situations, he said.
At a School Board meeting Tuesday, chairwoman Jane Gallucci offered condolences to Rebecca McKinney's family and vowed: "This district will go to the ends of the earth to understand why it happened and make sure it never happens again."
Times staff writer Tom Tobin contributed to this report.
