Roanoke Sun

School Board Recap: RCPS Creates Transportation Work Group to Study, Improve Bus Transportation

Roanoke City Public Schools has created a Transportation Work Group to study issues impacting bus routes, Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins announced during the Tuesday, September 14 School Board meeting.

The work group, made up of staff from departments across RCPS, is tasked with studying issues affecting transportation and making recommendations to the School Board.

Though RCPS has not canceled routes or increased parent responsibility for transporting students like neighboring school divisions, Mr. Perkins acknowledged that transportation has been frustrating for everyone.

"We are concerned, and we owe it to our community to get answers," he said.

Durham School Services, RCPS' transportation vendor, continues to recruit bus drivers and aides, Mr. Perkins said. The issue stems from a national, statewide, and regional bus driver shortage. But Mr. Perkins said it was important to find solutions and ensure RCPS and Durham School Services are doing all they can.

The work group will study issues such as: driver recruitment and retention, student and parent/guardian behavior, school start and end times, potential cancelation of routes, increasing parent responsibility zones, potentially limiting programming, and exploration of other transportation options.

The group will be led by Executive Director of Technology Wesley Williams. Its members will include bus drivers and staff from Durham School Services and staff from the following departments: transportation, finance, human resources, community engagement, gifted programs, English learners, disabilities, and early childhood. Principals will also represent elementary, middle, and high schools. Each member is expected to act as a liaison with their staff and families to provide feedback and ideas.

Staff will provide the Board monthly updates and present a final report with recommendations because "we cannot suffer through another year like we did last year," Mr. Perkins stated.

Board members expressed support for the action.

"Unfortunately, this [situation] feels entirely too familiar to me as somebody who’s been on the Board for a while," said School Board Chair Dr. Eli Jamison. "We’ve discussed this — this is incredibly frustrating to be at this point in this relationship and to be having some of the similar problems and knowing how hard you all are working to solve them."

She asked how the Board can provide further support. Superintendent White said it is difficult for students to arrive late and miss instruction, and a hardship on students who work after school but arrive home late. While understanding Durham’s challenges, she said "it’s about accountability. It’s about as a Board, asking our vendor partner to be flexible, to be agile."

Mr. Perkins also encouraged Board members to forward any constituent feedback so the work group can use all feedback and recommendations.

Opening of Schools

The Transportation Work Group announcement was one part of the report about the opening of schools.

Also in the operations section, Mr. Perkins provided updates to food and nutrition, health, and school safety.

Southwest Foodservice Excellence, RCPS' new food vendor, has hired 130 employees and offers "more food selections than we have ever offered in the cafeterias," much of it made from scratch, Mr. Perkins said.

In addition, he announced that school nurses collectively received the 2022 Public Health Nurse Award from the Virginia Nurses Foundation, honoring the work they do to support students, especially during the pandemic.

The new 24/7 tip line system, part of the package of new safety measures approved by the Board over the summer, is ready to be implemented, Mr. Perkins said, and the panic alarm system contract is under review.

The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services provided RCPS with a grant worth over $600,000 to hire 13 unarmed school security officers, which will help offset crossing guards and general security. Also, the Roanoke Sheriff’s Office has provided 11 school resource officers assigned to elementary schools, and the Roanoke Police Department has assigned seven police officers to secondary schools, which is an increase from seven total officers and deputies last year.

The approved package of safety measures also included new mass notification protocols, and Chief Communications & Community Engagement Officer Kelly Sandridge said those protocols have been rolled out. The complete list can be found here. She encouraged families to contact their school if they aren’t receiving robocalls. In addition, the RCPS Notify App is in the process of being implemented, and it is available on the Apple and Android app stores. She also encouraged families to follow their school and RCPS on Facebook and join their school's PTA.

Chief Academic Officer Archie Freeman said academic rigor has increased, and students have been learning since the first day of school through engaging content. Administrators and staff are also working to continuously improve afterschool programs, such as revamping the 21st Century Program to ensure it is a true extension of the school day.

Assessments to gauge students' progress are being administered so teachers know exactly where students are and can tailor instruction to each student, Mr. Freeman said.

"We are not wasting any time, curriculum-wise," Superintendent White said. "This is a results year for us. We are being very clear about the need to differentiate instruction to make sure that we are following our strategic plan, beginning with early literacy. We want to make sure we are pulling that literacy strand all the way through the content areas. … We also are differentiating instructions based on our students' needs."

Human Resources continues to recruit staff. Chief Human Resources Officer Dominick McKee said RCPS currently has 20 teacher vacancies, with one offer pending, and 51 classified staff vacancies, with 13 offers pending. Retention is also a priority, and the department has created a new program called "BONDS" to support teachers who are underrepresented in education.

Featured School: John P. Fishwick

John P. Fishwick Middle School Principal Ryan Loose presented information about his school, which was the featured school of the month.

Students are reading and writing in every class, every day, Mr. Loose said. Fishwick will be starting its twice-a-week afterschool program in October and will be using testing data to develop a successful tutorial program.

Mr. Loose said he hired additional teachers for the 2022-2023 school year who have over 100 years of combined experience. He thanked the School Board for their support in adding positions.

Safety is always a priority, and Mr. Loose shared the importance of knowing every student by name and where they are throughout the day. This year, Fishwick has a full-time school resource officer who has already developed deep relationships with students.

Fishwick offers numerous academic enrichment offerings, such as strings, band, art, choir, health/PE, CTE, and Spanish classes; 11 sports; and afterschool activities such as chess and Kids in the Community.

Fishwick's students and staff are proud to be the highest scoring middle school for reading and math SOLs for the past school year. Seeing the joy on student and staff’s faces "made it all worth it," Mr. Loose said.

Recognitions

The School Board welcomed the Board's inaugural Student Representatives, Yolanda Joseph, a senior at Patrick Henry High School, and Connor Sink, a senior at William Fleming High School

Del. Sam Rasoul presented resolutions passed over the summer by the legislature to honor Teacher of the Year Kristi Martin (Westside Elementary) and Hurt Park social worker La'Shay Foreman, Education Hero for the Southwest Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross

For the fifth consecutive year, the RCPS Fiscal Services team has received a Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officials International. The School Board recognized the Fiscal Services Team for this honor.

Appointment of Naming Committee

The Board unanimously appointed Franny Apel, Pam Banks, Xavier Duckett, Anthony Frazier, and Karen Pillis to the Administration on Campbell and Ruffner Naming Committee. The committee will study and recommend appropriate names for both buildings. The Board retains the final authority to choose the name for all school facilities.

These members meet the parameters laid out in School Board Policy FFA, which requires, at a minimum, a representative from the school administration, a parent representative, and a representative from the community at large.

The Board received a completed naming package for the new Administration Building on Campbell, which provided them with the opportunity to create a naming committee for both buildings since they are both division-level buildings.

Original source can be found here