MARIETTA - More than a month after the grand jury reported "serious issues" with the Cobb County School District's transportation department, those leaders responded by denying there are any major problems that have not already been addressed.

Dr. Gordon Pritz, associate superintendent of operational support, who oversees the district's transportation department, read a brief overview of the district's responses to the grand jury's recommendations. On March 4, the grand jury itemized 16 "serious issues/bad management practices" including poor record keeping; lack of work instructions for mechanics; lack of a defect analysis being performed, which could help identify preventative maintenance opportunities; unsafe lifts in use in the mechanics shops; and school bus fire extinguishers that did not have pins or were low on chemicals. Grand jurors also took issue with the management style of Rick Grisham, the district's transportation chief.

But in the document written by Grisham and submitted to Pritz on April 2, a copy of which was handed out at Wednesday's meeting, "CCSD denied the suggestion the management style of the Transportation Department is not striving" to be effective and efficient.

"The Grand Jury did not afford Mr. Grisham the opportunity to discuss his leadership style nor did they meet with any of his leadership team to gain their insights and perspective on this topic," Grisham wrote. "Mr. Grisham and his leadership team have a high but realistic expectation for, not only their own job performance but all employees in the Transportation Department."

On the lack of work instructions for mechanics, Grisham wrote: "Mechanics are trained and hired based on their abilities to complete appropriate fleet maintenance without written instructions," but also that staff will begin to develop written instructions as needed.

On the inaccurate and incomplete maintenance records, Grisham notes that his office has been correcting its organization and accuracy of such records since January 2009, when the state education department complained about the disorganization. Grisham also notes that though his office provided 31 records to the grand jury, it reviewed only one.

Grisham was present at Wednesday's school board meeting, but he did not speak directly to the board on this issue. Instead, his boss, Pritz, spoke to the board about the grand jury response.

"Leadership change often brings new and different ways of operating" Pritz said. "Over the last two-and-a-half years this change was implemented, in part, due to serious cost issues and operation inefficiencies. While safety of students is always priority, transportation leadership has implemented changes in the spirit of protecting the financial assets of the school district and taxpayer dollars. The results have included a deliberate, methodical transition of long-time practices, staff reductions due to downsizing or performance and improved operations and costs savings."