Chester Tindall, Broward Schools' Transportation Director, Resigns

Broward County schools' transportation director, Chester Tindall, who had been accused of mismanaging his department and once said "I'm not going to go quietly," is going quietly by resigning effective March 1.

Tindall drew criticism from parents and bus drivers earlier this year when the Broward school bus system became a big honking mess -- particularly with a driver shortage and changed routes that led to many students either ending up at the wrong stop or not being transported at all.

Superintendent Robert Runcie, who defended Tindall back in September and even accused the school bus union of sabotage, spoke for Tindall.

"A large part of it was that [Tindall] probably felt he didn't want to continue being a distraction to the initiatives we put in place," he said.

During a meeting of the School Board in September, 50 angry bus drivers showed up demanding that Tindall be shown the door.

At the time, Tindall defended himself, saying, "I'm going to continue to talk about nepotism and how much money the district has been losing because of overtime and other issues. I'm not going to stand back and let people vilify my reputation on things that were created before I got here."

At the School Board meeting they crashed, the bus drivers complained about bad routes that were screwing with their schedules. Some said they hadn't received their new routes until they went into work on the first day of school. Runcie blamed all the issues on the overhaul of the bus routes and a glitch in the routing software.

But things soon escalated into finger-pointing and accusations from both sides. This eventually led to Tindall's announcing that he would be taking a medical leave for at least six weeks on September 5.

Now he is officially resigning, although he'll continue to collect his $125,000 salary until March 1.

"I think he did the right thing for the people of Broward County and for the families of Broward County and the kids of Broward County. He did the right thing," said Jim Silvernale, a union representative.