Navigating A New Normal

As a nation, we have faced and survived tragedies as horrible as 9/11, however, this global pandemic is like nothing we have seen in our lifetime. I know you are doing everything in your power to create a new normal that feels safe, creates connection and solves future challenges at the speed of light.

First, the opportunity for creativity abounds and has already had an impact. I have seen creative solutions most distinctly in the EdTech community solving real-time problems. When I scroll through all of the resources the EdTech Digest community pulled together in record time, I’m blown away.

Secondly, during these uncertain times, I know what IS CERTAIN is that we are truly all in this together. We share common ground. Common space. Vulnerability, common opportunity to bring real and lasting solutions, and our needs as humanity. I believe the human spirit can come alive during times like this. This really is our chance as a country to get it right.

Will you join the collective effort and empower each other?

Another thing that is certain…. Getting Students to School Will Be DIFFERENT

Like many of you, I took the bus to school all 12 years. For decades, we have long relied on the yellow school bus system to get millions of students to and from school. Not much has changed, although things started changing 10 years ago. School Choice started to extend beyond community boundaries and the national school bus-driver shortage forced routes to collapse. The forced routes increased the average commute by 40%, thus more parents started driving their children to school. According to the National Household Travel Survey[1], only 33% of 50 million students travel to school by bus and more than 54% of 50 million are driven to school in a private vehicle. So, it begs the question:

Is now the time to ask if the school bus is still meeting the needs of students, families and their schools?

COVID-19 has quite literally turned the HOW of getting to school (whenever it starts back) on its head. New protocols for driver screening, social distancing, contact tracing, hyper-focused demand on clean surfaces bring challenges in implementing heightened sanitation, but also increases the costs on transportation budgets that were already strapped. Fairfax County Public Schools (VA), the 2nd largest school bus system in the nation, estimates 50–67% reduction of available seating to reach social distancing mandates. To make up for the difference, schools and districts would likely need to increase budgets, fleet size and bus drivers by 35–40%.[2] If the return to school is planned for August, this question must be asked:

Will parents have a transportation option that is acceptable and feasible for everyone?

Will parents’ transportation options reduce children’s exposure to COVID-19 and limit the entire family’s exposure? Will schools be able to ensure drivers are vetted and trained for this new reality?

Parents are already stressed thinking of their children’s inevitable return to in-person school. Maybe some will not return to their existing school the same way they left it. Maybe they choose schools with smaller classrooms or closer to home. Many are not sure how their return to work will impact their families. Many do not have options at all to consider.

This is a moment that COVID-19 presents School Administrators and Transportation Directors with an opportunity. To dream bigger. To remove any limiting beliefs of how things were done in the past. To dream of INNOVATIVE, TRUSTED and COLLABORATIVE ways to get students safely to and from school.

Maybe even go “ole school” — carpools, walkpools or bikepools to start? Or new school.

Why not optimize the driving parents already do and make it easier to connect with other parents to share the trips?

How can trustworthy technology afford school districts and parents more time to get clarity from state and federal authorities about new protocols, overcome the logistic challenges, and hire and train additional staff and bus-drivers. Or do we have to maintain the status quo?

Trustworthy technology already exists for carpools, walkpools and bikepools and at scale. Your school system can screen parents as drivers, similar to screening them as school volunteers. Your school can create safe trips for the students, intelligent matching based on distance, grade and other factors, including contact tracing and tracking and sharing of location. Increasing communication, provides data on actual behavior so schools and districts have time to plan more effectively and efficiently for the students to come back to their desks each day. Transportation technology options utilizes short-term capital investments that seed money into longer-term transportation strategy that meet students, parents and school needs. This capital investment could significantly be reduced, depending on per pupil transportation, as much as 50%. Radical, right?

The COVID-19 pandemic is radically changing the way we live and move. We need radical solutions. The opportunity is here. We need something that is trusted, flexible, multi-mode, efficient and adaptive to the needs of the family and school districts. It is time for a new normal.

[1] Source: National Household TraveltoSchool Brief (2019)

[2] Returning to School: Options and Considerations for Summer/Fall 2020