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« R.I. delegation asks NFL to let more fans see Pats' finale | Today | More ways to give during the holidays » December 20, 2007Update: Cicilline fires EMA head, outlines action steps
Cicilline, at a press conference this afternoon, said the responsibility ultimately lay with him for the series of missteps that stranded hundreds of school children for up to eight hours. He released an eight-page report reviewing the storm, which included a timeline of communications and "action steps" to prevent such a situation again. He also expressed deep disappointment in the performance of Providence School Supt. Donnie Evans, but said that he will continue to support the superintendent’s efforts to boost student achievement. “By mid-afternoon it should have been clear that a serious problem with school bus delays was brewing and no red flags were raised,” Cicilline said in a statement. “I expect those with primary responsibility for the transportation of children in our district to be fully engaged in monitoring and supervising the process until the last child is home and to act quickly and seek assistance when problems arise.” The mayor immediately fired Leo Messier, the city’s director of the EMA, and suspended without pay school operations chief Tomas Hanna for 30 days. Providence Police Maj. Monty Montiero was named acting director of EMA. Last week, snow falling as fast as 3 inches per hour crippled the roads and highways in the state, trapping commuters and school buses – many of them in Providence – for hours at a time. In all, the city received a little over 6 inches of snow, not much by New England standards. But by 8 p.m. 60 percent of Providence public school buses filled with elementary school students who had been dismissed early were still stuck in gridlock. That evening, Messier called the school bus situation “inconvenient.” But he said children “will get home eventually” because they have call phones to call their parents. Messier becomes the second emergency management official in the state to lose his job this week. On Tuesday, Governor Carcieri fired Robert J. Warren, the director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency. Cicilline’s actions come after receiving the results of a week-long review conducted by Chief of Administration John Simmons and Police Chief Dean Esserman. Extras: Read the 8-page review, released today, of the city's handling of the storm / Timeline of storm communications / Press release with mayor's "action steps" Click below to read the five-step plan described in the press release to deal with the next "extreme weather" conditions: - The City has modified its Emergency Operations Plan to require the Emergency Operations Cabinet to be automatically activated whenever school children are being transported during extreme weather with dangerous driving conditions. - First Student Transportation has agreed to establish a communication system that will improve the ability of bus drivers or bus monitors to communicate directly with the bus yard in order to report any difficulties in transportation students. - The School Superintendent will establish a communication procedure that requires parents to be notified every hour by an automated phone call system when there are substantial delays on school buses. - The School Superintendent is to establish, immediately, a dedicated hotline to answer parents’ questions regarding their children’s transportation. The hotline will be staffed with sufficient personnel during emergencies so that parents will not be kept on hold for unreasonable periods of time. - The School Superintendent will reverse the current transportation schedules in weather emergencies to ensure that the youngest and most vulnerable children are transported first. Posted by Brandie Jefferson CommentsKnorman | December 20, 2007 4:07 PM link It was on the news this morning that the Providnece Police Chief was asked where he was during the storm. Everyone is being asked where they were but how come no one is asking where the main person, the Chief of the city of Providence was? What was Cicilline doing at the time? This NEVER happened before, no matter how many corrupt officials the city of Providence has had. By the way, the phone notification won't work for parents that work during the day. And the Providence School Superintendent came up with that? Where was he at time of the storm while my daughter was stuck on a bus on Dean St. for 5 hours? These are the two people, in my opinion, that should have lost their jobs. Parent of 8 hr Bused Child | December 20, 2007 4:45 PM link The last time I checked, Mayor Cicilline was running the City of Providence. But I suppose he’s too much of a coward to take the heat for this blunder. It’s obvious that pointing a finger at a helpless subordinate rather than admit to his shortcomings will take the heat off him. The Mayor has a tendency to only “own up” when it involves receiving some two-bit award from a frivolous, over funded, City agency who’s forced to pucker up and kiss his posterior. He really epitomizes the word WIMP. John | December 20, 2007 5:10 PM link This is clearly a horrible situation to put little kids lives in jeopordy for hours and parents with no ability to help or consule them or find them. How awful that the school could not get in touch with parents to notify them of the situation. It is unforgivable. People should take this a step forward to the courts for putting their childs lives at risk and forcing parents to call 911 and receive no help as to where the children were. If a child is missing for even an hour parents would want to call 911 how is it possible in the hands of the public school they go missing on a bus, stuck somewhere, for 9 hours. There is always a reason to wait to let out school until 1:00, it is so the school will get to claim it as a full day of class and they will not have to make it up at the end of the year. In doing this they created complete chaos and immense worry. When a storm with such magnitude is predicted in the morning, school should have immediately been canceled. And everyone fails to mention how on Friday after the storm the buses again failed to show up in the morning leaving kids waiting at the bus stop well over and hour and then seeking rides from other parents. Who made that mistake after what already happened the day before? Certainly more answers should have been determined and much better solutions. This should never happen to little kids. Erin | December 20, 2007 5:22 PM link Once again the liberal juggernaut that is the journal is ingoring what everyone else is talking about, that is the police chief using his badge to muscle his way into a gym as children were waiting and urinating on buses stuck in snow. Why is this guy still protected? Any lower ranked officer or prior police chief demands something for free from anyone and the journal ruins them. With this guy it's ok. What he did IS a CRIME. I guess it all depends on the politics and agendas of certain individuals when it comes to who the journal will destroy or enable. No other police chief got this kind of passive treatment. George | December 20, 2007 5:39 PM link Toby | December 20, 2007 6:14 PM link I find it very hard to believe that with parents calling 911 looking for their children that someone did not think to contact Chief Esserman or Mayor Cicilline. I agree with Parent of 8hr, where was the Mayor? He had to have been somewhere in the city, he had to have been seeing what was happening. Maybe he was just ignoring it because it didn't directly affect him. What happened to making sure the people in "HIS" community are taken care of? Especially elementary school children ages 5-10. The whole situation was unacceptable and more people including the Chief,and the Mayor himself need to be held accountable. Everyone knows there is not a police officer in this state or any other that will do anything to help out the public unless someone tells them to or they have something to gain from it. Like there was not a single cop anywhere near any of those 60 or so busses that did not see those kids. Why aren't they being fired or suspended without pay? A mom | December 20, 2007 6:52 PM link hi i am so happy with col. dean m esserman and his police dept they help there people in there city we need someone like col. dean m esserman head of the local police dept april r leblanc | February 14, 2008 10:40 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
Great plan!!
All of our youngest children wil be sent home with no one there to receive them.
The primary reason for transporting the oldest first is so there is an older person available to watch the young children until the parents can get home.
People need to review the timeline outlined in the Mayors report. Between 2PM (when poeple noticed problems with the bussing) and 3:30PM NOTING was communicated to anyone. THAT is a problem. THAT is where the issue got out of control. THAT is where the situation needs to be addressed.
Typical over-reacting, knee-jerk reactions. (And yes, my child was serveral hours late getting home)