KUOW just reported that the district has canned the new transportation plan. They will use the old plan but now with 45-minute trips as opposed to the current 25-minute trips. This will save $500k, not $1M so the district will have to figure out how to close that gap.
The reason given is the huge outcry of unhappiness from parents including the 2,000 signatures to the petition.
Parent power. It's a good thing.
Partial from SPS press release:
The reason given is the huge outcry of unhappiness from parents including the 2,000 signatures to the petition.
Parent power. It's a good thing.
Partial from SPS press release:
This spring we worked to
develop a balanced budget for the 2012-13 school year, with a goal of
keeping budget cuts away from the classroom. To that end, the School
Board
requested an analysis of options that could generate more savings from
transportation. We re-structured the Transportation Office and asked
staff to both continue researching the adopted standards and also to
research new cost-saving options for Board review.
That research resulted in proposed modified standards for 2012-13,
which were introduced to the School Board on May 2. The timeline for
this research was very short, and community engagement is occurring
during the two weeks between introduction and the Board
taking action. We have received numerous comments about this plan, and
have used the feedback in our continued analysis.
Since introduction of
the proposed new standards, staff has been continuing to research the
various options with the twin goals of realizing cost savings and being
responsive
to community feedback. This additional research will result in a new
proposal to the School Board on May 16. The new proposal will return to
the current 2011-12 transportation plan (and therefore minimal impact
to current bell times) and a return to the
2010 ride times of up to 45 minutes. This new option is expected to
save the district between $250,000-$500,000. While other options might
have saved more money, the proposed new option is responsive to the
feedback and will impact the students, schools
and families the least. Transportation staff are continuing to refine
the details of the new proposal, and more information will be provided
to the Board and public prior to May 16.
In order to have a more
thorough analysis of options for the 2013-14 and beyond transportation
standards, the district has identified a task force comprised of state
and
local technical transportation experts to begin making recommendations
for consideration. This task force will begin in May and have
recommendations for the Superintendent to review in September, prior to
the Open Enrollment period. We look forward to their
recommendations and future discussions on this important topic and want
to thank the school communities and parents that provided input into
our budgeting process.
"..community engagement is occurring
during the two weeks between introduction and the Board
taking action. "
It only occurred because people spoke up. I do not believe they would have had any real outreach to parents if it wasn't for the outcry. I feel like many of you do - the district should truly admit the mistake because otherwise, it's revisionist history.
Comments
How many is "numerous"? (thousands?)
"Parents win. District cans trans plan."
nice alliteration!
Jane
-- No school starts after 9:30
--
No school starts, you're probably right. It was reported as staying the same but now that I read the media release, it appears there might be some tweaking. I'll try to find out when the actual plan is to be released. This is important as to whether people want to sign up on Monday to speak at the Board meeting on Wednesday.
@Mirmac: Clearly Banda needs to understand in person what the current staff and board has done (not) to steward this district in the past week.
Whoever was on the list to testify at the meeting, don't let this 'soothe the beasts' transportation announcement today dissuade you from still doing so. The full story of the depth of the district's hideous operations and parent relationships needs to demonstrated.
And personally, I don't want to see the board, esp. Pres DeBell, to get any sort of a 'pass' in hiding the public's anger right now. They kept the public out of the superintendent interview process. They set this transportation disaster into motion and did not insist on a reasonable timeline for parent input. Let Banda see how unhappy we are. He needs to understand.
DistrictWatcher
(Hey, District-Watcher, SPS may never issue an apology but lots of parents do.)
Oompah
-MS parent
-- No school starts after 9:30
Current ride is 25-30 minutes.
So if 15-20 minutes to the bus ride is are students picked up 15-20 minutes earlier or is the bell time moved 15-20 minutes later?
SPS Parent
parent