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Late School Bus Keeps Bobb Waiting

If you're late for your first day of school, that's bad. When you are in charge of the Detroit school district  and the bus you are riding is 30 minutes late, that's worse. 

That's what happened to Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb Tuesday morning. The plan was to ride a bus to make sure the routes were running smoothly for the first day of class. But his 7:15 a.m. bus did not show at the stop on Detroit's lower east side until 7:42 a.m. at the corner of Mitchell and E. Forest. He was waiting with two children, their parents and guardians. 

"They [the students] were here on time. It's not their fault...Someone will have to pay for not being here on time," he said. 

Bobb said the district's transportation department will hear from him "loudly and clearly." 

Bobb said he is glad he did not announce what bus he would be riding so he would get a first-hand account of the bus system's performance. 

According to the company that provides bus service to the school, there was a mix-up of keys at the garage. 

Bobb said this does not help his efforts to make the district more attractive to prospective students or their parents. 

"We spent a lot of time recruiting students to come into our school system," Bobb said. "It doesn't speak to confidence. We're spending $20 million for students' transportation." 

Bobb is travelling throughout the district to highlight the changes and improvements made in the district to beef up curriculum and instruction. It would appear his schedule has been altered by a set of misplaced keys. 

"It's not the driver who will hear from me but the supervisor who will hear from me," he said. 

The district has set an enrollment target this fall of 77,314 students, which is more than a thousand fewer than attended Detroit schools last spring. The troubled district also faces a budget deficit of $363 million.
   
(Copyright 2010 WWJ Radio.  All Rights Reserved.)

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