Transportation Audit
I went back and checked because thinking that Charlie had probably written about the Transportation Audit but I don't see it in any old posts. I know many here have transportation concerns so I wanted to let you know it is available to read at the SPS website (www.seattleschools.org/area/strategicplan/cgcs_final.pdf). It is joined together with Maintenance, Capital Projects and Operations. (Whew, a lot of reading.)
Overall, it seemed like there were a fair number of commendations including:
The department is not particularly data driven. For example—
o Consistent and basic data on student ridership by program and by mode of transport, bus counts, and numbers of routes are not readily available.
o Regular management reports are generally lacking.
o The Control Center’s logs are not summarized, analyzed or used to make decisions or to allocate resources.
o Contractors are not required to provide basic service-level information.
o There is no routine system for principals to report pupil transportation
problems to the department.
o It is difficult to reconcile the number of personnel with the budget, the organization chart, and staff rosters.
There are no apparent incentives to control program costs and no consequences for failing to do so.
o Enrollment policies are established, and pupil and program placement decisions are made without considering their associated transportation costs.
o A large number of taxis are used for several programs, even though taxis services are ineligible for state transportation reimbursements.
o Excessive numbers of courtesy riders, i.e., students who live within the established walking distance from their school and are not otherwise qualified to ride the bus.
o New bus stops that are not checked for safety compliance prior to activation.
o Routing inefficiencies due to short-walk distances to bus stops.
The list goes on. It's heartbreaking because this is real money walking out the door because of inefficiencies and lack of management. The transportation costs have been through the roof and most of the time we were told it was because of all-city or regional draw schools and transporting many students from the south to the north. Now it looks like there were many reasons.
This is a pretty damning report but it does sound like the people who work in that department want to do better. I think with the new manager, new technology, a new SAP and a new (and enforced) method of working, this is one department that will definitely do better.
Here are some of the suggestions from the audit:
Create a comprehensive training program for all contract and district personnel
involved in transporting students that includes—
a. District policies
b. Safety procedures
c. Emergency Procedures
d. Pupil management
e. Special student needs.
Overall, it seemed like there were a fair number of commendations including:
- A new Transportation Manager who appears competent and motivated is replacing the retiring manager.
- The department’s culture of accommodation results in excellent customer service to students, parents, and school personnel.
- Most staff appeared interested and willing to implement changes to improve departmental operations.
The department is not particularly data driven. For example—
o Consistent and basic data on student ridership by program and by mode of transport, bus counts, and numbers of routes are not readily available.
o Regular management reports are generally lacking.
o The Control Center’s logs are not summarized, analyzed or used to make decisions or to allocate resources.
o Contractors are not required to provide basic service-level information.
o There is no routine system for principals to report pupil transportation
problems to the department.
o It is difficult to reconcile the number of personnel with the budget, the organization chart, and staff rosters.
There are no apparent incentives to control program costs and no consequences for failing to do so.
o Enrollment policies are established, and pupil and program placement decisions are made without considering their associated transportation costs.
o A large number of taxis are used for several programs, even though taxis services are ineligible for state transportation reimbursements.
o Excessive numbers of courtesy riders, i.e., students who live within the established walking distance from their school and are not otherwise qualified to ride the bus.
o New bus stops that are not checked for safety compliance prior to activation.
o Routing inefficiencies due to short-walk distances to bus stops.
The list goes on. It's heartbreaking because this is real money walking out the door because of inefficiencies and lack of management. The transportation costs have been through the roof and most of the time we were told it was because of all-city or regional draw schools and transporting many students from the south to the north. Now it looks like there were many reasons.
This is a pretty damning report but it does sound like the people who work in that department want to do better. I think with the new manager, new technology, a new SAP and a new (and enforced) method of working, this is one department that will definitely do better.
Here are some of the suggestions from the audit:
Create a comprehensive training program for all contract and district personnel
involved in transporting students that includes—
a. District policies
b. Safety procedures
c. Emergency Procedures
d. Pupil management
e. Special student needs.
Comments
The Strategic Plan, you will notice, is a management plan, not an academic one.
The irony here, of course, is that management expertise was what the non-educator Superintendent's were supposed to bring, but didn't. Now that we have a educator as Superintendent we're finally getting some management.
We're finally getting some attention paid to defining the mission, setting metrics, assessments and benchmarks for employee performance, and doing meaningful reviews of employee performance.
If Transportation has been unmanaged - as this report clearly indicates, look to the person who is supposed to be supervising that department. Not just the new manager of Transportation, but that person's supervisor who should have been directing the new manager - before the audit - as well as the previous manager to institute some management and data-driven decision making. That's the Director of Student Support Services, Ammon McWashington.
This is the same man who was the Executive Director of High Schools from March 2004 until 2007, when Phil Brockman was appointed to replace him on an interim basis. Mr. McWashington's record of supervision in that role wasn't much better. He was the person who had failed to supervise Dr. Joe Drake at John Marshall High School, and didn't seem to do much to supervise any other principals.
Culture change in an organization is usually slow because the current people don't accept the new culture. Typically, you just have to wait until they leave the organization, taking a part of the old culture with them. Then you can replace them with someone who will embrace the new culture. Consequently, culture change often requires nearly 100% staff turnover. 100% staff turnover has costs.
It's unclear if Mr. McWashington has embraced the new culture of responsibility and accountability.
I don't mean to single him out. He is but one of dozens. I have watched him at the Board meetings when the bell times and bus times were discussed and he always seemed to have a very loose relationship with the numbers, facts and details. He seemed confused that anyone was even asking about them and unprepared to answer fundamental questions.
This new culture represents a big change for him and I hope he will be successful making that change because he carries a lot of institutional memory.
NCLB "opt out" students that were attending schools in the Central Area who were offered re assignment to JA w/transportation have ** JUST ** been advised (after applying for and accepting the assignment to JA) that they will **not** receive yellow bus transportation - they will get Metro passes.
I'm completely OK with Metro passes for high school. But not middle school.
I just can't see how we could justify Metro passes for 11 year olds? Two families reported that their 11 year olds will have to ride 3 buses to get to JA. And all by 820A, the new start time.
I haven't heard about NCLB elementary "opt out" students? do they get a yellow bus?
Per this document http://www.seattleschools.org/area/eso/nclb_0910.pdf
the district is obligated to provide transportation to any school they offer as a transfer to NCLB opt out students. But it doesn't specify if the transportation is yellow bus or Metro. Many parents didn't ask.
Hamilton kids coming from the south always get yellow bus service, as do all city draw and multi cluster draw k-5 and k-8 alt schools.
Why would NCLB middle schools students be offered Metro?
# The department’s culture of accommodation results in excellent customer service to students, parents, and school personnel.
You'll get no "sunshine, lollipops, or rainbows" from me here - if I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying. (you owe me a new keyboard, as they say) Did they actually interview any real students or parents? Nothing in my experience last year supports those commendations.
...it does sound like the people who work in that department want to do better. I think with the new manager, new technology, a new SAP and a new (and enforced) method of working, this is one department that will definitely do better.
I sincerely hope so. I'll allow them several weeks to sort themselves out, but I'll definitely be a thorn in somebody's side if I have to. Transportation can be a serious "quality of life" issue for our family.
When the evening driver started making up her own new stops to make her drive time shorter and we complained, she was reprimanded and the route went back to normal.
We've never had trouble getting through and always gotten quick responses. Although the morning drive last year was very slow and the kids were late, the principal got things changed for that route and the kids were mostly on time the rest of the year.
It was our first year ever that any of my kids took a bus, and though we were nervous about it, it ended up working out quite well.
The problems in Transportation are not among the people who have contact with students and families.
It is a variation on the theme in which the schools are good, but the district headquarters are dysfunctional. The buses, drivers and dispatchers are good, but the leadership is a mess.
Every year Transportation puts a plan in front of the Board for approval and every year they present it so late that the Board doesn't have the option of saying "No."
Every year the Transportation plan is hastily assembled, every year it is of questionable efficiency, every year it is written without any community engagement or input, and every year the Transportation Department promises that they will do it right NEXT YEAR, that they will consider suggestions to improve efficiency NEXT YEAR, that they will consider public input NEXT YEAR. And every year the Board let's them get away with it.
I have seen their comedy routine in which the clowns play bumbling bureaucrats several times. This Spring's performance wasn't the debut. It was a revival of a long-running show.
...Culture change in an organization is usually slow because the current people don't accept the new culture.
I agree wholeheartedly! I didn't take 2 years for this district to fall apart and it's not going to take 2 years to fix it.
As I read this blog and all the complaints made (don't get me wrong, folks have a right to say what they want) I often wonder if folks are looking at the big picture and understanding how much work it really takes to turn this ship around.
There will be fits and starts on pretty much every effort. And you may not agree with everything that's being done, and your opinion may not be asked for.
It's going to take a long time for Dr. Goodloe-Johnson to get the useless folks out and bring in competent people who are actually working for kids.
In the meantime, your individual issues may not be handled in the time you want or the way you want. There are 46K kids in the district, so somebody is not going to get what they want or continue to get the cool stuff they've been getting. We have to work for the good of the whole, not the good of your individual family.
Can Dr. Goodloe-Johnson do some things better? Absolutely. But don't throw the baby out with the bath water. It's been a long time since someone has actually taken true control of managing the district. It's a beast and it's going to take some heavy lifting to tame it.
If you're looking for a job, apply to the District and help shape things up from the inside. It has to be more effective than complaining on a blog or speaking a the board meetings. Just a thought.
So people need to be patient for results, but they don't need to be patient for inputs or efforts and they should not tolerate unnecessary delays.
The ship takes a long time to turn? Then get right on the wheel and turn it for all it is worth!
Because these ships need a lot of time to turn, any competent captain starts the turning early. If it takes three years to re-open a school, then we need to start the work of re-opening it three years before we need the school open - not the year AFTER we need it.
Culture change is slow, but that's why the people leading the change need to push it. That's why it is so frustrating to see the Board slack off on moving the change forward.
I can be patient and wait as long as it takes for the outcomes, but I will not wait for the efforts or the inputs. The ship takes a lot longer to turn if you delay turning the wheel or turn it for a little while and then let it spin back.
Also, it is not often the I hear parents here expressing concern only for their child. The general feeling here is why is this happening and how can we make it better for all kids? I honestly don't think most here are out for their own child or even their own school. As we have all learned from principal movement, any school, anywhere can be affected by district decisions.
I like to think that saying things out loud that should be said does help. I think that telling parents information they can find nowhere else does help. I think that printing links to education information both local and national does raise awareness. We have also gone through the many groups in our area working on education issues and told parents to join one of them if they want a more active role.
not in response to any lobbying on the part of APP families.
--This change was made because the District and the State consider APP to be a Special Needs program for students who need the Advanced Learning services offered at
Garfield. The State funds transportation for Advanced Learning students in other districts in Washington and reimburses special needs transportation at a higher rate than the general student population. The extra funds the District will receive by busing APP
students will serve to subsidize bus service for other students in the District. Transportation of APP high school students to Garfield on WMS buses does not use or deplete existing
transportation funds--the District is, in essence, gaining more funds by busing APP students."
--------------------
Basically, the new transportation manager (whose name I forget, sorry) found out about this on his own.
Also, *any* student can apply to ride on an existing bus on a space-available basis. So a student attending Garfield who is not in APP, but is in an area served by a bus going to WMS/Garfield, can apply to ride on that bus.
This year, as far as I know, there are no north-end buses going to WMS, since the north-end middle school APPers are going to Hamilton, so Garfield students from the north end will not have yellow bus service, unless there is a new plan that I don't know about yet.
The yellow-bus service is only in the morning, too (it wasn't possible to coordinate service with WMS in the afternoon).
Helen Schinske
First part of the job would be having to remind them all the time that as a public body, they have an obligation to print the truth...
I'd be spending all my days sending memos up the line saying:
"Um, excuse me... do you realise that you say this here, and something else there, and you actually DID this here... which version of the truth would you like me to print?"...and..."well, as your PR advisor, I'd recommend that you answer questions put to you by the public in plain, meaningful English (plus provide translations in all the other languages used by SPS families), rather than this flim-flammery edu-speak which only serves to avoid issues and doesnt fool your highly educated, politically savvy audience"...
Yeah - I'd be at the top of the list of candidates they would hire for a job within the District...
I'm looking for ways to effectively help. Kind of in the spirit of a message on this blog saying we should have positive things to say about the district.
In terms of people advocating for not only their family... I'd say that's true for some but not true for many. When push comes to shove it's about individual families. Take the new assignment plan for example. How many folks thought it was a great idea until they didn't get what they wanted? Now to them it's a bad idea, nevermind it may be good for a lot of other folks. So now they fight against it.
I think this whole thing depends on what lense you're looking through. Several folks on this blog are way too deep in the weeds or too focused on their own situation and are not seeing the big picture forming, so when the blade of grass you're watching isn't growing that way you want, then everything else seems bad too.
We all need to turn the ship together and consistently otherwise we go in circles or sink.
I know, mixed metaphors, but hopefully I got my point across :-).
Those are the people who are having the greatest impact on the Seattle school system now.
Our CFO, who was brought in by Dr. Goodloe-Johnson from Charleston, when presenting the numbers for the rifs in the spring, did not include the demographic numbers that were presented in that same meeting by the SPS demographer. The demographer stated that SPS was over enrolled by 1,200 students and that was in April. I attended a financial meeting following that board meeting and the numbers had not changed. In fact, there was no additional discussion about adjusting the rif numbers based on the over enrollment projected for the fall of 2009.
Going back a bit further to the school closings that occurred this year, there was very little attention paid to the demographics as described by the census bureau for Seattle, particularly for the Central District and Capitol Hill areas where there is a projection of 30%-100% growth rate of school aged children between 2005-2012.
No one at SPS seemed to be aware of the fact that in closing T.T. Minor and relocating the junior high school in the Meany building that there would not be an elementary school or a middle school for those neighborhoods.
No one at SPS seemed to notice the development of low density housing springing up throughout the Central District and Capitol Hill areas attracting young couples and families to those communities.
This is the big picture.
Schools were closed and students relocated for a total savings of $3M in this year's budget. Over time, there is a projected savings but in a short period of time, those buildings will be needed again. People are still moving to Seattle, the economy will come back up and those buildings will need to be re-opened.
Mr. Bernatek, another person brought in by our superintendent, is now Director of REA, Research, Evaluation and Assessment within SPS. That department is responsible for student statistics including enrollment, demographics, evaluation and standardized testing.
If this is how our superintendent is "turning the ship around" then I am concerned about the direction we are going in.
The reason behind the school closures was, according to our superintendent, Brad Bernatek and Don Kennedy, due to under capacity in the schools and because it would save so much money that it would help balance out the $34M budget deficit for the year.
I have just found out that SPS is planning to open 4-6 buildings for "capacity reasons".
I now want to know what the cost was for closing buildings and relocating or storing furniture, for having to upgrade for instance the Meany building to handle the capacity requirements for the computers, which has of yet not been successfully accomplished, the hours spent by different schools'staff and SPS personnel to go through the process of packing and closing schools (during the last three weeks of school time before summer by the way) and relocating programs.
Unfortunately, there is another price that has been paid for this fiasco, and that is how it has affected our children. Our students have lost teachers and classmates who they came to trust and love. They are having to to go through the process of readjusting to a new environment. They have seen programs disappear before their eyes. They are going from a building that was home for them into one that is strange and certainly no better than the home that they left.
Schools should be one of the institutions that for our children provides stability. A place that they trust will be there the next day and the day after that. Many of our children have little to depend on and for some of them it is the school that they know will be there with their teachers and friends.
Before any additional closures, reassignments or rifs are ever made again, the district needs to understand the toll on our children and communities and weigh that against the nickles and dimes that are saved by such an upheaval.