FCBOE suspends bus driver
A video making the rounds on Facebook, featuring footage that alleges a Franklin County bus driver was speeding down a Franklin County road, drew the ire of the community, and at the March 21 Franklin County Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Greg Hamilton announced that the driver has been suspended pending investigation.
The video, which was posted March 18 by Kelly Bragwell, is ten seconds long and recorded by Bragwell as he follows along behind a school bus. The camera view flits from the bus to his speedometer, which registers 70 miles per hour. In his attached commentary, Bragwell indicates the bus is on County Road 41 where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour.
Hamilton said Tuesday that the driver in question has been suspended with pay while the school looks into the incident and attempts to verify the facts of the situation.
“Student safety is a top priority in this county,” said Hamilton. “I’m going to give the investigation its due diligence.”
Hamilton said he and transportation supervisor/assistant superintendent Donald Borden are investigating. In part, they are coordinating with the bus manufacturer to determine what information can be sourced from the internal workings of the bus itself.
Hamilton also reported on the success of the recently implemented incentive policy in which teachers receive a bonus for not missing school during a nine-week period, thereby lowering the system’s cost for substitute teachers – as well as potentially impacting student discipline issues. Hamilton said the policy has definitely shown results, with one school having a week where no teachers took a day off. “I’m tickled to death,” Hamilton said.
Borden reported on the status of construction at Tharptown. The school board approved the $2.5M construction of a new cafeteria and the remodel of the current cafeteria into classrooms at its February meeting.
Borden said the project has stalled because the state building commission is calling for the current cafeteria to be transformed into a safety shelter instead of classrooms. “The architect met with building commission to try to explain the immediate need we have for classrooms,” Borden said. “He felt like the meeting went well … I think it will work out fine.”
The topic of construction was also up for discussion in regards to the situation at Vina, where students have had to make do without their science building and band hall since late December 2016 after an EF-0 swept across the campus. Hamilton said the structural engineer retained by the school system has deemed that the building needs to be demolished. Hamilton quoted, from the engineer’s report, “Based on the age of the building, the structural storm damage currently visible and likelihood of additional structural damage that currently remains covered, it is my recommendation that the … building be demolished. There is enough visible evidence to warrant the building in its current condition poses a risk to the health, safety and welfare of the students both inside and outside the building.” The building was constructed in 1958, Hamilton added.
In the interim, students are having to be accommodated in other classrooms and spaces.
The insurance adjustor and architectural engineer surveyed the damage March 22, and Hamilton said they will issue their written report in two weeks.
Bottom line? “I don’t feel comfortable putting children in that building.”
The board also approved the following personnel actions:
-Resignations for basketball head coach positions from Jonathan Odom, THS varsity boys, and Marc Tracey, THS varsity girls
– Employment of Sean Pruett as bus shop assistant
– New teacher substitute Kristin Pichelmayer
– T.R.A.C.K.S. resignations from Jake Ward, Belgreen, and Jill Harris, Phil Campbell
The next board meeting will be April 25 at 5:15 p.m., with a work session at 5 p.m.
