Seattle School Board Removes Transportation/Bell Times Item from Agenda

 Update:

I will be listening into the Board meeting to see what might be said about the pulled BAR on Transportation/Bell times. 

In the meantime, here's a lengthy document from Director Vivian Song Maritz on the situation. It's quite detailed and thoughtful - like a breath of fresh air. 

The Transportation Service Standards, which contains a proposed change to 3 Bell Times, has been pulled from today’s Board Meeting agenda (May 4). The District acknowledges the community feedback it has received in the past couple of weeks and has decided to do more work before presenting to the full board. 
 
I oppose this change because I do not believe that it is in the best interests of our students, families, and staff. It will have ripple effects throughout our city and I will continue to engage stakeholders on this all- encompassing issue.

end of update. 

I went to check on the speakers for tonight's Board meeting and I see that the entire Transportation item as well as the amendment for it by Director Liza Rankin has been taken off. Perhaps that will be explained tonight.

I suspect it is the hard work of parents across the district who are demanding public engagement on this topic vital to all families. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
It is SO nice to see a SSD BOD Member come up with a substantive and cogent policy response to public input.

Posted by someone who has no kids but is a longtime observer.
5/5/22, 11:23 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Who Is A. J. Crabill (and why should you care)?

Why You Should Care Mr. Crabill has found quite the acolyte in Director Chandra Hampson. In the course of discussions over SOFG, she says his name over and over, "A.J .says we...." Now that's not too surprising given the direction the district is heading and that it is Mr. Crabill's work with the Council of Great City Schools is how we got here. But it appears that Mr. Crabill is working very closely with Hampson and we know she wields some amount of power over the majority of the Board. Mr. Crabill is going to continue to work with the Board as SOFG is instituted in SPS. In fact, his role may become more public as it did at one SPS Board meeting in the spring where he was on the phone during the meeting and suggested the Board stop the meeting to "self-reflect." I also noticed that in a district in South Carolina, when things weren't going to plan, he blamed the Board for not following SOFG to the letter. Look for that to happen here if Board members w
Read more

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

This may only be a partial list of reasons; please, add anything else in the comments. The deadline to file to run for the Board is May 19th. Entire Board Majority NOT vetting the Superintendent in any way, shape or form. Even the Seattle Times thought that was wrong.  It was just absolute hubris and it was wrong. For the second time in just over a year , board members voted to negotiate a superintendent contract during a special meeting with no opportunity for public comment. This time, they showed an even deeper disregard for their responsibilities as public servants: Aborting a national search for a new superintendent and denying Interim Superintendent Brent Jones a chance to show students, parents and taxpayers that, indeed, he is the best person for the job. Government bodies can’t fast-forward through transparent processes just because they think they know the right answer. One other odd thing about the hiring of Brent Jones - most permanent SPS superintendent contracts ar
Read more