So, while the constructive criticism aka Monday morning quarterbacking might seem necessary to some, you won’t see me go there. Respectful and firm dissent is our civic duty, no doubt, but I’m sure we know how to keep it in the clubhouse. Anyone who doesn’t know the appropriate back-channels for this stuff can figure them out pretty quickly. And the new superintendent is entitled to the same cooperation, good will and trust we showed her predecessors.

We have new leadership but still face an uncertain future in the form of the structural deficit, other potential hits to funding, wholesale changes in education policy with attendant unfunded mandates and incremental losses of local control. So, we would are best served by manning up and acting in partnership with the District.

And about that CFO: anyone who says or implies anything other than “Thank you for your amazing service on behalf of our kids,” loses me from the start. They don’t make a grade for that kind of performance, because A+ would be too trite. MVP sounds more appropriate.

(I am a concerned parent with kids in the District. No one has pre-screened these comments or asked me to say this stuff.)

Lightfoot asked how the public would know who to call with specific questions, such as “Why is our bus late?” Nelson continued that line of questioning, adding, “I would contrast a ‘late bus’ call with a call about two students getting in a fight – those would demand calling different places.” ….

In response to Lightfoot’s concern, Marcel also offered help from WISD, saying the WISD has a communications person who could help “craft” communication with the public.

…

Marcel is Brian Marcel, assistant superintendent of business services for WISD; I’m not sure who the WISD’s “communications person” is.

–the district did a really poor job of bringing people into the decision-making process (yes, even those who would be interested) for both transportation and athletics, and they’ve paid the price for it with angry parents. If they had asked people early in the process, about *specifics*, I think they would have been surprised about the buy-in and the help they would have gotten in planning better routes.

–the WISD has been slow to share information about the costs of transportation, the actual savings, etcetera. Maybe that’s because they have new staff too, but since they can’t give the district distinct numbers for (for example) an additional stop for a bus that’s already on a route, it makes parents skeptical–rightly or wrongly.

–I hope the district is taking seriously the idea of “safety first.” I think that’s very important–and yet it seems that the common high school stops don’t really address some safety issues. Some kids in outlying areas have to walk on dark roads with no sidewalks to get to those common bus stops. So then, parents say, what is the purpose of the common bus stops? What about kids who are still sitting four to a bus? It’s easy for the district to say “be patient,” but if it’s your child, you probably won’t be patient. In fact, you probably shouldn’t be patient.

And honestly, I think if the district had consciously engaged parents from around the district in *conceptualizing* the bus stops, there would have been much more buy-in and many fewer problems, because parents really do know their neighborhoods.

Take a step back from the canvas. If we try to view the big picture of what the District accomplished last year in the midst of an amazing juggling act and under the leadership of an acting Superintendent, this current busing controversy might tend to fade away against the larger body of work as an important, but understandable, break from the norm. The community’s concerns need to be addressed, but patiently, one community, indivisible.

And I also get tired of complaints about the superintendent’s salary tied to anything people are unhappy about. Let’s say her salary was cut in half – saving approximately $125,000. That’s still less than half of the amount that was needed to provide even the limited high school funding. The truth is, as Satchwell is so passionate about pointing out, the problem is systemic and it is rooted in Lansing. I don’t think we need to recall the governor, though – what we need is serious school funding reform, and that will require a lot of different legislators.

From what I can tell, I think the superintendent is doing a fine job. Of course, she’s only been here a couple of months, so it’s hard to tell. However, I don’t think she should be contacting each parent about the individual teachers in each school (e.g. Thurston and their split classroom) or micromanaging every bus decision – I think she should be providing high level vision and direction.