Upcoming BOE meeting, more information about a the survey, bus costs, different deseg plans.

Hello, thank you for signing my petition asking the Board of Education and SOMSD Administration to conduct a survey of 2021-22 kindergarten parents.  A survey isn't something complex, nor expensive, so if the BOE and Administration want to do right by more kids and parents in this community there is no justification not to do one.  

The petition in favor of more bus transportation got more signatures than the survey petition, but I think the two petitions complement each other.

I hope you all, and your spouses, speak at the next few BOE meetings.  We have been treated very unjustly and I think we have every right to make the Board of Education and Ronald Taylor know that.   I am going to speak at the July 18th meeting about unacceptable gaps in the BOE's "Recap Reports" and the need for a survey to understand what changes the district ought to make.  

If you have not spoken at a BOE meeting before you should know that there are two periods of public speaks, the first session will take place after some reports and the flag salute.  The second will take place after presentations, including the statements from the committees.  It's possible for you to speak at one session and your spouse to speak at the other.  You can also speak via Cisco Webex.

There is also a BOE meeting, which is labeled a "retreat" on Thursday, July 21st.  I was told there would be a public speaks opportunity there too.  

Speakers are supposed to have three minutes, but Thair Joshua will cut that to two minutes.  I think cutting our public speaks is bad in most situations, but cutting public speaks to to two minutes here is even less is unacceptable since the elimination of courtesy bussing for Marshall-Bolden and Boyden families and distant assignments for K-1 kids costs parents at least 90 hours a year.  If we are supposed to sacrifice 90 hours, they can sacrifice another minute per speaker.

I have some additional things to share with you that may be of interest:

1.  The Superintendent Already is Supposed to do a Survey
2.  There was no integration justification to adopt a zero-choice system.
3.  The costs of additional busses would not be high
4.  Our program is Nothing like Berkeley's

The Superintendent Already is Supposed to do a Survey

I did not know this, but the actually did demand that the superintendent do a twice-yearly "Experience Survey."  It was passed in Policy 5120, which, incidentally, is the same policy that forbids any hardship exceptions to the placement system.

"In order to monitor and respond to students’ and families’ experiences, the Board directs the district to administer twice yearly “Experience Surveys” in January and May throughout the multi-year implementation of the intentional integration plan. This survey data, which will be shared with the Board, will inform adjustments to District strategy and school supports while helping to target professional development."

The failure to do a survey is something the BOE and Admin have to correct.

Controlled Choice DOES Produce Integrated Schools

In 2018, 2019, and into 2020 the BOE and Administration talked about having a controlled choice model, where families could rank schools and then the district would try to satisfy those needs/desires while maintaining diversity.    

However, in 20202 the Maini BOE and Administration then decided to go with our current zero-choice model, saying that choice would actually worsen diversity, not increase it.  The report they cited was from the Harvard GSE and called "Do Parents Really Want School Integration."

I read that report and it says nothing about controlled choice being bad for integration.  It criticizes choice as causing segregation through residential decisions and through private school enrollment, but it praised choice with enrollment ranges for diversity, ie, controlled choice.  In fact, it singles out Cambridge for having a good controlled choice program.

"CONTROLLED CHOICE IN CAMBRIDGE, MA
Starting in the 1980s, Cambridge has been using a "controlled choice" model that takes family preferences into account while also making sure that proportions of "free and reduced lunch" and "paid lunch" at given schools reflect the district proportions. Bucking trends towards re-segregation seen elsewhere, Cambridge districts became more economically and racially integrated (Potter, Quick, & Davies 2016). High school graduation rates (including for students of color) are substantially higher than national averages and the district performs as well as comparably composed districts in the state on other academic performance measures (Learned-Miller, 2016)"

 

Bussing Costs are Not that High
The cost for a 55 seater bus route is in the mid-five figures.  There is no compelling budgetary reason not to sustain bussing for Marshall-Bolden and Boyden and distant K-1 students.  

I've researched what districts with subscription bussing charge for it and it ranges from $400 at Montclair to $1395 per student in Millburn.

$1395 is a large amount of money -- I'd consider it very unfair to charge SOMA people whose children involuntarily attend distant schools, but for a 55 seat bus, the cost is only $77,000.  A superintendent I know in a district in South Jersey told me that a 55 seater bus was only $38-$44k a year.

That means that to restore the two busses it would require to restore courtesy bussing for Marshall-Bolden and Seth Boyden the cost is $153,000.  Since the SOMSD actually projects spending $112,000 less on transportation next year, there's no budgetary reason for this cut.

We do not have "Modified Berkeley"  

 

The BOE and Taylor have said we are using a "Modified Berkeley Model," but our policy is different in several big ways.  Berkeley allows parents to rank three schools and 72% are placed at their top choice in Round 1, which takes place in March.  If a child isn't placed in a top-three there is a simple waitlist process to transfer into a more logistically feasible school, so the bad assignment may only last for a year.  

 Cambridge and Montclair also use parental ranking and have a waitlist process if a student is assigned to a school that is terrible for the parents.  In Cambridge over 80% of kids are placed at their top choice.  In Montclair over 90% are.  

These other three districts accept more racial and SES variance than the SOMSD is so if we kept out +-5% variance we would not place 80-90% at their first choice school, but still, we could get good assignments for more students.

The SOMSD doesn't have a waitlist process to transfer.  Parents can try to convince the superintendent that they have a hardship, but Taylor, following BOE requirements, rejected nine out of nine appeals in 2021-22.