Seattle Public Schools and Transportation - Yet Another Cluster You-Know-What

Update: a parent at a Magnolia/Queen Anne/Ballard Facebook page created this doc on bus routes. He says:

We have 42 routes over 27 schools. The missing routes are heavily clustered. Only Cascadia and Salmon Bay have more than 2 routes missing. (They are missing 6 and 4 routes respectively). Most of the missing routes are in District 2 and 4.

In essence, this means that the bell time change is attempting to service the needs of 27 schools, and really mostly Cascadia and Salmon Bay. I don't think this is obvious. Furthermore, I don't think anyone has even asked the folks on these 42 routes (or others in the 27 schools) if they would prefer to continue with whatever workarounds they've had this year or if they'd prefer a bell-time change (and implicitly drag the whole city + supporting industries + teacher/staff families) along with it.
There is also a Change.org petition.
end of update

Seattle Public Schools has never gotten transportation right. It's like watching a pinball game - look, the ball's going this way, no, that way! Buckle up kids, because it's happening again. This is classic JSCEE playbook - make big decision as a rush "we have to do this!"

Please be sure to submit your feedback on SPS website (Let’s Talk Link). May 18 is the last day for community feedback. https://www.k12insight.com/Lets-Talk/Dialogue.aspx?k=WF7G2YLT@DY8N1B7LT

I think the most important thing right now is to show you are these basics but here's a link to the entire page:

How Would a Three-Tier Schedule Work?

Each school will be assigned start and end times, just like they are now. The draft start times for each school are available on the Bell Time Changes webpage. 
What Time Would Each Tier Start?

In the current draft, we are considering these approximate start times:
Tier 1: Start 7:30 a.m.
Tier 2: Start 8:30 a.m.
Tier 3: Start 9:30 a.m. 

Your Thoughts or Questions

We expect to move forward with the plan for a three-tier system of start times. We know there will be questions and challenges in this transition.

Please use this Let’s Talk link to submit questions and any challenges we might not have considered yet. 

Timeline

The three-tier bell times will be included in the SPS Transportation Service Standards for 2022-23. This document must be approved by the Seattle School Board each year.

April 21-May 18: School and community feedback collected and considered.

April 21: School Board Operations Committee — Reviews the recommended proposal and decides whether to send it to the full School Board. Changes to the recommendation can be made before the board introduction.

May 4: School Board meeting — Introduction of the Transportation Service Standards 

Know what? This huge change is NOT at the top of the district's website. Almost like they DON'T want parents to know. PLEASE tell your PTA or school community this is happening.

There was a meeting in West Seattle this past Saturday with directors Leslie Harris, Vivian Song Maritz and Lisa Rivera Smith. Good reporting from the West Seattle Blog; the directors had some interesting things to say.

Director Leslie Harris

Harris described the bell-times issue as “on fire, to say the least,” adding that she is “beyond disappointed” in district staff “only dropping official information on Thursday.” The Operations Committee meeting “was difficult” – lots of information, lots of “preconceived notions about what we’re going to do” – “it’s about money, the fact we don’t have enough drivers, competing with Amazon and UPS and Metro and” others for drivers. But a decision must be made soon on proceeding with the district’s bus provider First Student, and going back to 3 tiers or staying with 2 is at the heart of that. She also lamented that no one in the district transportation department – whose leader recently departed – remembers how hard people fought to get secondary schools to start later because teenagers need more sleep. 

The district will meet with Metro to see how it could help but “the lack of data and lack of detail could not be more frustrating,” Harris said. She also said this shouldn’t have emerged at the eleventh hour, because there’s been a proposed line item in the budget since September regarding “going to 3 tiers to save $5 million” but it’s taken this long to discuss it.

Director Lisa Rivera Smith 

There apparently also is a parallel philosophical controversy over whether decisions like start times/buses should be a school board matter at all, Rivera Smith noted. Overall, she said, that meeting got “really crazy” and ran 2 hours over. She felt it would be “irresponsible … to just punt this.” So committee members moved it to the full board for “consideration” – which, she stressed, didn’t mean the committee approved the proposal. And, she said, there’s a chance it could change before it’s officially introduced at the May 4th board meeting, especially given that it’s only now going to families for feedback.

Director Vivian Song Maritz 

Song Maritz observed, “Who makes the decision is not so important to me .. what is important is data-oriented decision-making,” and looking for every possible solution to the bus-driver shortage.

Questions from parents:

Question from attendee: Did SPS do any surveying before proposing changing bell times? Rivera Smith said yes, there was a building-leader survey. “I want to cry when I think about a child standing on a street corner at 6:15 am waiting for a bus” which could happen with the earliest start time. She’s not against three tiers in concept but she’s concerned about student health.

Oh, they asked the PRINCIPALS. Whew! That's a relief. Also, there's Director Rivera Smith waffling again. 

An attendee wondered what will happen to out-of-school programs for a third-tier student. Answer: Nobody knows, since this information is so new. Harris added that district staff said Thursday that if your school choice no longer would work for you because of the schedule change, they would set up a way to enable you to make a change. 
 
Re: athletics, “there’s going to have to be a fair amount of negotiation” for secondary students and Seattle Parks, and that’s happening, but they have to address how that possibly conflicts with adult league rentals. 
 
Yet another question: Is there room for later child-care programs for third-tier schools? Reply: “Many layers … to be worked on.”

A solution that's too sensible for SPS:

I am sure many people have ideas, and I get I am sitting in the cheap seats. But what if the Seattle Public Schools hired drivers as full-time employees? When not driving buses, they could be tutors/lunchtime aids/administrative assistants, or any number of other jobs needed during the school day. The bus drivers could receive benefits and full time wages. Just a thought!

There are so many schools that could use that kind of help - elementary needs help for recesses and lunch, tutoring, etc. 


Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh come on school board, you were elected because you promised oversight. Reign this in! Own your ability to give this issue the platform it deserves.

Also, what IS the problem needing to be fixed so urgently and will the solution actually deliver? The district has been limping along offering bus service where it can to those who need it. We have some semblance of normalcy. WHY can’t that be good enough. Upsetting everything with new bell times at the cost of childcare and parent work schedules is very problematic.

Why Now
Anonymous said…
Rivera Smith is shaping up to be a huge disappointment. Sad to see her waffling like this and refusing to stand up to the bullies who run SPS.

Disappointed
Sigh said…
The Operations Committee has the capacity to stop this debacle. Rivera Smith sits on the Operations Committee. It is very problematic for a single family to have both a 7:30 and 9:30 start time.

Disappointed in Rivera Smith's comment.
Anonymous said…
Great points Mitt! It’s easy for Rankin to live her ideology - advocating to keep encampments at Broadview Tompson for example - when her family will never have to live with the reality of such a position. I’d love to see her cede the seat to a leader from the community that she says she represents.

A City Council “me too” map is a great idea. That could also support City/District collaboration on education issues (where appropriate).

- Mitt for Schoolboard
Anonymous said…
I've been around so long I remember when the district got rid of in-house bus drivers way back when. Many parents were opposed to the change, but SPS was insistent that switching to a non-union contracted business was the way to go.

Not much seems to ever change in this district, and parents' needs will be the last thing they will take into consideration.
Anonymous said…
On reading the spreadsheet that parent created, thanks to that person, I have to say I wish more people understood that most schools aren't missing any bus routes at all, and the vast majority of schools that are missing a route are missing only ONE bus route, which is easily compensated for by careful routing of another bus route or two. Some are missing 2, so maybe some extra care or 15-minute staggered start times.

But we are literally talking about switching 48,000 kids to an undesirable 3-tier start time system because of something that actual data shows us is not a huge problem.

The schools most effected are Cascadia (missing 6 routes) and Salmon Bay (missing 4). Both schools are allegedly despised by Chandra Hampson, being an HCC and an option school, respectively. I'll assume she doesn't despise the actual children there.

But here we are talking about switching the entire district to 3-tier start times so that exactly those two schools can get their busing restored? Can anyone confirm if irony is a word in Ms. Hampson's active vocabulary?

How about some creative thinking to solve such a narrow problem? How about, instead, we don't change start times AT ALL, except for Cascadia and Salmon Bay, just make those two a bit earlier or later? Or put them on the high school tier. And maybe use zum for our FRL students who live too far away to their school so they don't have to get up so early, regardless what school they go to. Or maybe switch 7th/8th graders to use Metro.

Staff makes it seem like this is a major emergency beyond all proportion, and the board is drinking their Kool Aid, again. But can't we just make do in some creative, compassionate, affordable way and keep the 2-tiered start times?

Staff keeps manufacturing artificial emergencies, and our boards year in and year out just fall for it. Make it stop.

Chicken Little
Anonymous said…
This "solution" is so classic SPS fire drill.

I'm really curious as to whether anyone has looked at tardiness stats lately. I remember when the elementary schools first shifted to the 7:55 schedule, tardiness increased significantly, particularly at higher poverty schools. I have to imagine this will have a significant impact, as well as raise aftercare costs for all of the 7:30 am start kids, though some of the 9:30am start families may reduce costs if they can stagger their work schedules and only need before care (if they can even get it given the current childcare challenges).

I don't really understand the potential issues with Seattle Parks & Rec - last I saw all (most) of the middle/high schools were on the 8:30 start time, so sleep and park/field schedules shouldn't need to change.

NE Parent
Anonymous said…
I can’t believe they are already scrapping the school start times policy. For 3 years, sleep researchers at UW, Dr’s from Children’s Hospital, mental health counselors, teachers, parents, and students worked with SPS transportation staff, academic staff & the school board to adjust start times to accommodate adolescent sleep needs, sports, jobs, daylight hours, field schedules, after school care, metro negotiations, 2-school families, etc. Months of community meetings, surveys, research studies in SPS schools around tardiness, absenteeism, academic performance in first period classes. I never thought they would be successful; it is so hard to change anything in the district. And this was a huge negotiation. My kid worked at least 5 hours a week for years on this campaign & graduated before benefiting from the change. But thought at least it’s there for kids that follow.

I can’t believe they think it’s harder to hire drivers than to address a balance of all these issues that took years to work out?!

People should remember that changing to a better school start time for adolescents is related to decrease in depression & anxiety, decrease in teen car accidents, decrease in teen violent crime, decrease in cold & flu rates, decrease in obesity & sleep disorder rates. Also decreased dropout rate, absences, tardies, school discipline, & nurse visits. And the academic improvement when start times were changed was most profound for lowest performing students.

-Alum
Anonymous said…
The recording of the SCPTSA sponsored discussion is up an interesting. Rivera Smith and Song Maritz seem engaged, but Hampson is sticking with her standby moves. She doesn’t think this is in Board purview and will be abstaining, also families should go talk to their schools about specific concerns - why is she even there??? For not having a position, she has a lot to say.

Lots of good parent discussion in the FB forums, the parent data scientists and software programmers have set their sights on this logistics issues and are taking a crack at it! Although SPS has never shown themselves to actually be “data driven” for all the lip service they give it.

Driving in Circles
Oy said…
Melissa,

Thanks for insisting that the SCPTSA meetings with board directors are open and transparent.

I watched the SCPTSA meeting regarding bell times. Sleep advocates spent years trying to change bell times because they know sleep influences student achievement. Hampson felt that the board should only vote on issues directly related to reading, math and writing (?). Does she not understand that sleep influences achievement? Time will tell how many of Hampson's followers vote in lock-step. I expect Hersey and Rankin to take Hampson's lead.

Hampson, Rankin, Rivera - Smith and Harris's seats will be up for re-election next year.

Certainly hope we don't have young children needing to start school at 7: 30.
Anonymous said…
Oy,

Hampson votes when it is convenient for her. She certainly didn’t hesitate to chime in on the encampment issue at Broadview Tompson last year. She voted to fund that debacle, not a student outcome in sight. The Board is elected to weigh in on budget issues and policy direction, which this is. Will she really abstain as she promised in the SCPTSA session? Because that would align better with her slippery reasoning than a no vote.

Deadbeat


Oldtimer said…
I'm not convinced that the district will see $5 million in savings by making this change. If I recall, they claimed that it would cost that much to to make the change back in 2017. I would love to see some line item numbers to actually understand how they came up with that number.

Also, it's a shame parents don't know how many of those third tier busses run late in the past. If they mess up on the first or second tier pickups, the timing problems cascade to results in delays for the second tier, third tier, and field trip busses. We used to have to track the busses constantly to see if a pickup was even going to happen.

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

Why the Majority of the Board Needs to be Filled with New Faces

First Candidates for Seattle School Board Elections 2023