Leon County Schools is reversing course after days of chronic transportation failures that left parents scrambling and students stranded at bus stops and schools.

At a press conference Wednesday, an angry Superintendent Rocky Hanna announced sweeping changes to the troubled system.

He said the district had removed its transportation director, Manny Joanos, discontinued its partnership with bus routing software giant EduLog and was returning to last year's bus routes starting Monday. A longstanding practice of keeping the bus driver the same in the mornings and afternoons also will be reinstated.

"I want to start today by once again apologizing to our community for the confusion, anxiety and stress that was created by the changing of our bus routes," Hanna said. "The system failure which occurred the week before the start of school and the chaos it has created for our students, parent and employees is completely unacceptable."

Transportation coordinator James Cole was promoted to interim director to replace Joanos, who was placed on paid administrative leave. It was not immediately clear if Joanos, a former County Commissioner who holds an annual school district salary of $98,654, would be fired or reassigned.

Right now, the district is "laser-focused on a solution to the immediate problem," School Board member DeeDee Rasmussen told the Tallahassee Democrat, adding that once the problems were resolved, the district would determine how to deal with those accountable.

She said she hoped Joanos would be "retained as a valuable member of the district staff even if in a different role, similar to other areas of responsibility he has successfully carried out over the course of his career."

While routes will return to what they were last school year, buses will retain route numbers rather than previously displayed bus numbers, to which students were accustomed. Hanna said bus drivers would be informed of the changes Wednesday evening. An emergency meeting will be held Saturday morning with drivers to iron out details for next week.

"Two days ago I was disappointed and hurt, today I am angry," Hanna said. "I have lost all faith and confidence in (EduLog's) ability to help get our routes in order in a timely manner."

It is unclear whether the district will lose its payment to EduLog for services that carried a price tag of $720,707.20, according to a May 2018 School Board Agenda item. District spokesman Chris Petley said the district will look for legal advice going forward to recoup the money, if it has already been paid out.

"We're looking into any legal actions we may be able to take," he said. "We still want to work with them on the bus tracking and some of that stuff, so we have to have lawyers look into contracts to figure that out."

While the contract has been severed, the district is hoping to work with EduLog to provide a tool that should one day allow parents to track buses in transit.

Problems began to pile up the weekend of Aug. 4 when someone in the EduLog company deleted backup information inputted from the district. It was an effort to make space on the company's servers, EduLog representative Pat Sarkin said at Tuesday night's School Board meeting.

But the issues snowballed from there as district officials and EduLog employees scrambled to re-create the district's master plan of bus routes and stops. The data dump pushed back when the district could update bus drivers about their new routes, which in turn delayed drivers from learning them.

Parents and students also were kept in the dark about the new stops which led to the pileup of problems on the first day of school Monday.

District officials flirted with the idea of postponing school when they became aware of the impending debacle the Sunday before school started, but by that time it was too late, Hanna said.

Hanna's announcement was the latest twist in a dizzying and infuriating three days for parents and the more than 10,000 county students who ride the bus. Problems have ranged from buses arriving hours late at scheduled stops to not showing up at all for students with special needs who had custom routes.

After being scolded by angry parents at Tuesday night's school board meeting, the district has set up a specific hotline for parents with student in the Exceptional Student Education program. The number is (850) 487-7818 and the email is ESEtransportation@leonschools.net. The superintendent added he believed all stops considered hazardous have been eliminated but that parents can alert the district if they feel otherwise.

“I’m glad that they went back to the old routes," parent Cher Marlow told the Democrat after watching the live broadcast of Wednesday's news conference.

Marlow's son, Josef, was diagnosed with autism when he was 5. The 15-year-old now goes to Chiles High School and plays on the football team. Marlow said Josef's bus never arrived to pick him up this week, despite repeated calls to the district. She said after the new hotline for ESE students went online, she got through to someone who will "hopefully" call her back.

As for Joanos' removal, Marlow questioned whether the transportation director would only receive a "slap on the wrist" for the busing debacle. She also said Hanna must be held accountable.

“Nobody necessarily wants to see somebody lose a job; we just want to see all our children taken care of and that all parents can go to work and make sure their children are transported to and from school," she said.

Hanna said he hopes that things will be "under control" by Monday.

“Again I would like to apologize to our community," Hanna said. "We are taking action now.”

The bus breakdown:

The full statement by Superintendent Rocky Hanna

I want to start today by once again apologizing to our community for the confusion, anxiety and stress that was created by the changing of our bus routes.

Two days ago I was disappointed and hurt, today I am angry. Monday, I made a promise that we would fix this and today we are announcing immediate changes and a plan to get us back on course.

Effective immediately LCS will no longer contract with EduLog to provide bus routing services. The system failure which occurred the week before the start of school and the chaos it has created for our students, parent and employees is completely unacceptable.

Considering this company serves school districts across the country including Hillsborough and Broward in Florida I should have been told a week ago that the implementation of their program in its current state would result in numerous problems on the first day of school. As a result I have lost all faith and confidence in their ability to help get our routes in order in a timely manner. These problems must be resolved and they must be resolved now.

That being said, as an immediate solution to our current situation beginning next Monday August the 19th we are reinstituting the bus stops we used last year. This immediate action will serve as a starting point as more routes and stops may be added in the future.

By Monday we will have most of our ESE and IB transportation issues resolved. Until then, we have set up a dedicated phone line and email address for our ESE families to use. We have more than 400 bus stops already routed but if you are an ESE family and need information please call 850-487-7818 or email ese transportation@leonschools.net

To address those parents who have concerns of hazardous walking conditions all stops from last year have been vetted, however, if you feel your student’s journey is still unsafe you can go to the transportation web site and fill out a hazardous walking condition appeal form.

Finally, Manny Joanas has been removed as Transportation Director and Mr. James Cole has been named the interim director.

CORRECTION:A previous version of this story listed the wrong phone number for parents to call, provided by the superintendent. It has been updated with the correct number, (850) 487-7818.