CBE to spend more to consult parents after blunder
The city’s public board plans to revamp the way it involves parents in decisions after sharp criticism this fall of its controversial move to make children walk farther to catch the school bus.
But a special report to be presented to Calgary Board of Education trustees at a meeting Tuesday warns that a “system- wide public engagement framework” to be developed and implemented next spring will cost money.
“There may be significant budgetary implications,” says chief superintendent David Stevenson, “when considering the allocation and dedication of resources to support this work across our organization.”
Stevenson did not quantify how much more of the board’s $ 1.3- billion budget will be needed to implement the framework, but he said the effort will be led by the board’s communications team.
According to the CBE’s budget from last year, the board already employs 22 staff and spends about $ 2.7 million on communications.
Lisa Davis, president of the Calgary Association of Parent and School Councils, said the report was a “typical bureaucratic response” to a poor decision to save money by requiring children to walk twice the distance they used to — 1.6 kilometres for those in elementary and 1.8 km for students in junior high — to reach congregated stops.
“The reality is that you don’t need to consult with parents to know it’s a bad idea to ask a six- year- old to walk 30 minutes in the dark in the dead of winter to catch a bus,” Davis said. “This proposed solution of spending more money on engagement suggests why we already have $ 260 million, or 22 per cent, of the board’s budget disappearing from classrooms.”
While an earlier report into the busing flop found a survey last February didn’t ask parents for input on reduced service levels — and no mention was made in a letter sent home in May that the move to congregated stops meant increasing the board’s walk limits — Stevenson’s report concluded he still complied with his marching orders from trustees to get public input before making major decisions.
But the angry response this fall from hundreds of parents when they learned their children were being forced to walk distances that even exceeded the increased limits has convinced him those orders need to be changed.
“Recent public feedback surrounding the changes to transportation service levels and the elimination of the Calgary Transit rebate have highlighted the need to develop alternative monitoring indicators to provide evidence in support of maintaining an organizational culture that reasonably includes people in decisions that affect them,” Stevenson said.
Davis said the chief superintendent’s conclusion that he was in compliance with the monitoring expectations set by trustees is predictable given that he was reviewing his own performance.
“Instead of admitting he made a huge mistake and moving on, he’s going to blame the process,” she said.
“It’s another example of why we need a third party review of the decisions this board has made about where it allocates money that should be going to the front lines in classrooms.”
Joy Bowen- Eyre, chairwoman of the board of trustees, sent a letter to all parents Friday explaining the CBE was “working out the kinks” in its transportation service, and had already added 25 new buses to ensure students do not have to walk farther than the guideline distances.
In an interview, Bowen- Eyre said she supported the plan to involve parents more in decisions.
“We need to do a better job of consulting with our public,” she said.
“It will cost more money, and so that will have to be found within the existing budget that we are given by the province.”