In a special session last night, the leaders of Durham Public Schools tried to work through the details preceding another major shift in how the district gets its children to school.
The district’s temporary rotational bus service plan is set to expire after January 17, though the board already voted once to extend the plan past the original December 20 date.
Only four of the seven board members were at the special session, and per their policy, they were barred from taking any action. Instead, they used the time to pick through the nuts and bolts of ongoing efforts. In a presentation, Mathew Palmer, head of operational services, again highlighted the ongoing efforts of family responsibility zones, express bus stops, and route optimization.
Superintendent Anthony Lewis explained the results of a survey that showed a small sampling of parents were mostly concerned about equity issues, express stops, and family hardship.
“There are worries about increased truancy, traffic congestion and lack of supervision at Express stops,” read Lewis. “The timing of the implementation, mid school year, is also criticized for causing new hardships. Overall the plan is seen as shifting the burden from [the district] to families, exacerbating existing challenges.”
The challenge—a lack of bus drivers—is straightforward. Implementing solutions has been anything but. Staff and the board hope that the new short-term changes will allow the district to utilize its current drivers while the district recruits and trains future drivers. Everyone hopes that the temporary changes will truly be temporary.
“I don’t want the bandaid to become the new normal,” said board member Joy Harrell Goff.
Both board and staff also highlighted the need to rely on principals to implement the plans.
“I assure you that in this very second, with very, very, very few exceptions, virtually every principal in this district right now knows exactly how each one of their children gets to school,” said deputy superintendent Dr. Nicholas King.
Later in the meeting, board member Natalie Beyer thanked the staff and once more called out what she sees as the root of the problem.
“I think North Carolina needs a deep, deep investment at the state level into this profession,” said Beyer. She said she dreamed of a future in which the ranks are “overstaffed” with “personnel that love working in Durham and love working with our students.”
But many bus drivers have taken issue with the administration’s handling of the crisis. At the board’s last meeting in December, they joined teachers, and other staff in the Durham Association of Educators at a press conference outside the downtown building to accuse the superintendent of union busting.
The board is set to meet again on Thursday for a work session.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].