Board to Vote on Several Key Policies: First Up: Transportation Service Standards

Update: Director Liza Rankin explains her amendment at her director Facebook page and says this:

I start by giving some historical background into the tiers and how we are where we are now, and provide a brief explanation on my proposed amendment to decouple Transportation Service Standards and bell times so that ridership eligibility and start times and tiers are evaluated and approved as separate items instead of smushed together, which currently forces the board to either accept a tacked-on bell times appendix or reject an entire service standards document annually.

Here's what her amendment says:

Confirms the Board’s delegation of authority to the Superintendent or their designee to identify annual exceptions for transportation, and to set bus arrival and departure times and school start and end times; and

Huh? So she wants to give TOTAL authority to the Superintendent over start times and bus times; that's what the above paragraph says. And yet she claims on Facebook, that the amendment would separate the two from the Service Standards.  Can't have it both ways. 

To note, if her amendment goes thru, that means that Board policy has changed overnight without committee review or input from the public. So the amendment may not even be legal.

I also had a smart reader suggest that Hampson is trying to straddle the fence on bell times. She said that the Board should not be voting on bell times. She said at the SCPTSA meeting for parents that she would abstain from this vote. That would protect her from anyone saying that she was for the changes to bell times. And yet, her name is nowhere on this amendment that was just what she stated should happen. Leaving her name off the amendment also protects her. Hmmm.

End of update.

Tomorrow night the Seattle School Board is having their regular Board meeting. There are a couple of items on the agenda that merit a call-out. Two are being introduced and one is to be voted on via the Consent Agenda.

One is the Transportation Service Standards: Ridership Eligibility.

The BAR says:

The district anticipates moving the bell schedule from a two-tier to three-tier system for the 2022-23 school year.

Interestingly, Director Liza Rankin has put forth an amendment which would strip the Board of oversight of transportation standards. Key passage:

I move that the School Board approve Amendment 1 to the Board Action Report titled “Approval of the 2022-23 Transportation Service Standards: Ridership Eligibility,” which:

  • Substitutes the attached substitute Transportation Service Standards in place of the 2022- 23 Transportation Service Standards and appendices that are currently attached to the underlying Board Action Report;

  • Confirms the Board’s delegation of authority to the Superintendent or their designee to identify annual exceptions for transportation, and to set bus arrival and departure times and school start and end times; and
  • Authorizes the Superintendent or their designee to make minor modifications as needed to the Transportation Service Standards.

Basically, the Superintendent just has to allow the Board to "review" yearly appendices to the Service Standards sans any input from the Board. Another key sentence:

Updates to the Transportation Service Standards beyond the scope of minor revisions will be presented to the Board for adoption.

Who defines "minor revisions?" 

So this would move bell times out of the scope of the Board's work. Hampson said at a SCPTSA meeting for parents that she would abstain on this vote for Service Standards. I would think if this amendment passes (and the vote on the amendment would go first), she WOULD vote for this item.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Song Maritz and Rivera Smith are both up for leading on questioning the District on this. I think Harris can be persuaded but I worry about the District apologist voting bloc - Rankin, Hampson and Hersey. I have no sense of Sarju. We may get crappy bell times next year, and if we do, I hope the enabling directors get some political blowback for it. It’s very unpopular.

Yes Men
Anonymous said…
Rankin and Hampson are all in when it comes to shaping homelessness policy. But bell times? “Not my job! I’m just a lowly volunteer!”

Northend Ladies
Anonymous said…
Liza Rankin is either a liar or incompetent. Her amendment quite clearly states that power over bell times will be ceded to the Superintendent. She is a master at spinning people, but this is simply too much. She cannot claim her amendment means something other than what it obviously says.

Save Democracy
Anonymous said…
They’re forcing through the 3 tiers for busing even though there’s no need or interest because they’re setting up for the busing that will be needed for their upcoming new assignment plan, right? I think people need to brace themselves for a radical rezoning of every school boundary, which will force mostly white and Asian students to bus. Nothing else makes easy sense.

Rezone
Sleep/ Achievement said…
Next week, the board will have THREE meetings on Student Focused Governance. Yet, they simply can't get transportation correct and bell times impact student learning.

Hampson championed Student Focused Governance which is consuming huge amounts of administrative time and dollars.
Engagement Needed said…
Rankin's amendment would take bell times out of the board's hands and allow the superintendent to set bell times.

Rankin's amendment is to INFORM community. NO community engagement for a board that claims that they are all about engagement.

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