DPS Work Session: Transportation, Shortfall, and Legacy

Durham Public Schools must rely on city and county governments to help supply crossing guards where needed to ensure safe pedestrian travel in the district’s new family responsibility zones.

Millicent Rogers, chair of the DPS Board of Education, acknowledged during Thursday’s work session that she and Board Member Jessica Carda-Auten have met with Durham city and county leaders to initiate those discussions.

“That work has happened in advocacy spaces,” Rogers said, based on a 2014 document from the Durham Police Department that identified where crossing guards were used back then. “We’re already having those conversations.”

Much has changed since that document, she noted, including the addition of new schools and different infrastructure. Rogers wants to collaborate with the city to gather protocols about training crossing guards, rates of pay, and recruitment options. She also wants more crosswalks and bus shelters at schools so families don’t rely just on DPS school bus transportation.

Durham schools using the new responsibility zones – areas where school bus service is discontinued, leaving families to rely on carpool, bicycles, or walking – apparently have managed the first 10 days without any crises. The school district also has managed to cover all active bus routes, said Dr. Larry Webb, DPS chief operating officer.

“Everything is going very well,” he told board members during the work session. Webb said staff haven’t seen a large increase in walkers, more families are carpooling, and children are getting to school. So far, no appeals of the new system have been reported, he said.

However, one school – Hope Valley Elementary – got a reprieve from suspended bus service due to sidewalk construction near Chapel Hill Road and University Drive. It’s quite possible, given concerns raised by families at that school, that some appeals may be forthcoming in a few weeks after that construction is finished.

Meanwhile, the district has hired at least 15 new school bus drivers to alleviate the shortage that led to delayed or missing school buses earlier this school year. That shortage prompted DPS to resort to rotational bus coverage while administrators considered options.

One of those options – the controversial express stops for Rogers-Herr Middle School, Durham School of the Arts, and The School for Creative Studies – didn’t come up during the transportation update. The transportation staff had punted on that plan because it proved to be largely unpopular, but had left open the possibility of implementing it for the 2025-2026 school year.

Chad Haefle, whose children attend Hope Valley Elementary and Rogers-Herr Middle, urged DPS officials to release more information about express stops if they intend to proceed.

“Where will the stops be?” he asked. “What times will they operate? What are the expectations of parents at pickup and dropoff? What will DPS do to minimize the impact of express service on equity and access and how are families with two working parents supposed to get their kids home? This is all basic information that we should have had weeks ago when the magnet lottery was still open. Without it, families couldn’t make informed choices. If you can’t answer these basic logistical questions, you shouldn’t use the system at all.”

Webb indicated that express stops will come up for discussion in a future meeting.

During another presentation, Jeremy Teetor, chief financial officer for the district, discussed the proposal to use about $3.9 million in funds from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to make up for a big chunk of the $7-million budget shortfall DPS faces for this year.

But at what cost?

Board Member Natalie Beyer expressed gratitude for Scott’s 2022 gift “and her generosity in giving unrestricted funds, which allow us this flexibility.” But DPS had plans for those funds, not least of which was $1 million to invest in affordable teacher housing in Durham, where home prices remain at a premium.

“And so while we access these (funds), I think it’s critical that we not let those dreams die and those plans die going forward,” she said.

Board members also took time on Thursday to pass a proclamation honoring the life and legacy of Dr. E. Lavonia Ingram Allison. Allison, an educator and civil rights firebrand who led the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People for 14 years, died in January at 94.

Wendell Tabb, a relatively new DPS board member, got his start teaching at Hillside High School in 1984 – and that’s when he first met Lavonia Allison.

“I’m just so honored to have known her for as long as I have,” he said, calling her a “Durham legend, a Durham icon.”

“She was somebody who didn’t mind standing up and speaking out forcefully, aggressively, assertively for those things she believed in,” said Floyd McKissick Jr., who now serves as chair of the Durham Committee.

Her son, Dr. Vincent Allison, told the board: “You know, my mother never did anything for accolades, honors, or awards. She truly loved this city, and she truly loved this community, and she truly felt that justice was deserved by everyone. So hopefully we can move forward, keep her legacy alive, and keep doing things to elevate the community of Durham and elevate our children in Durham Public Schools and throughout the nation.”

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