School board grapples with power outage chaos and transportation system failures
The Stillwater Area Public Schools board met on August 27 to address a chaotic school day cancellation caused by widespread power outages and to confront serious ongoing problems with the district's student transportation system that have left families confused and staff burned out.
A power outage on the morning of the meeting affected Oakland Middle School and the High School, prompting district officials at Central Services to delay the start at Oakland Middle and cancel school entirely at the High School. But the real problem emerged afterward: the district failed to properly review the communications sent to families about bus schedules before sending them out, leading to significant confusion and stranded students. Superintendent Funk acknowledged the breakdown, stating "where we broke down systems wise is we didn't vet the communication that went out." Board Chair Sherman emphasized the need for the district to "learn and create processes so it's avoidable in the future."
The more pressing issue discussed was the district's troubled transportation system. The district switched to a new routing program called Traversa that is incompatible with PowerSchool, the student information system. Superintendent Funk revealed that the district never conducted a competitive bidding process (called an RFP) before purchasing Traversa, meaning no other vendors were considered. Additionally, student address data in PowerSchool was never properly updated, causing the routing system to send students to wrong locations—in one example, a student was routed to their former school, Stonebridge. These problems have created significant stress on staff and families alike.
Director Hacker expressed concern about employee burnout, asking "is there a plan to put more human resources behind this? I don't want people to burn out." The superintendent outlined a plan to establish PowerSchool as the single source of truth for student records, refine data entry processes, and implement formal RFP procedures for future system purchases.
In other business, the board unanimously approved the revocation of two outdated policies—Policy 722.1 on information access and Policy 725 on record retention—whose content is now covered by newer policies. The board also heard an update on the Adventure Club, the district's before and after-school care program, which faces staffing challenges due to the national child care crisis. The program has a waitlist of 236 students and is using state funding to offer competitive wages and retention stipends to attract staff.
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Votes (4)
Superintendent Report on School Day Cancellation due to Power Outage
The Superintendent detailed the morning's events, including widespread power outages affecting multiple schools, the decision-making process to delay or cancel, and the subsequent communication failures regarding bus schedules. The incorrect messaging led to significant parent confusion and stranded students. The report emphasized lessons learned for future emergency communications and the need for internal process improvements.
Superintendent Report on Transportation Challenges
The Superintendent provided an in-depth account of the district's ongoing transportation difficulties, attributing them to a problematic transition to the Traversa routing system and its incompatibility with PowerSchool, the student information system. Issues include a lack of RFP for Traversa, bad data migration from Skyward to PowerSchool, and a history of un-updated student addresses. This has led to staff burnout and significant family frustration. The proposed 'way ahead' involves establishing PowerSchool as the single source of truth, refining data entry processes, implementing RFPs for future purchases, and reviewing current systems.
Revocation of Policies 722.1 and 725
Moved by Director Petri [59:48] · Seconded by Director Seander [59:50]
Paul, representing the committee, presented two older policies for revocation: Policy 722.1 (Information Access and Decisionmaking) and Policy 725 (Record Retention). Both policies were deemed obsolete as their content is now covered by newer, updated policies (722 and 515, respectively). The revocation aims to clear redundant policies from the district's books.
Adventure Club Update
Annette provided an update on the Adventure Club, detailing the challenges of the national child care crisis impacting staffing. She presented enrollment numbers, the current waitlist of 236 students, and the need for additional before and after-school staff. Recruitment efforts include competitive wages, retention stipends from state-provided Great STARTs funding, using high school students, and partnering with other departments for full-time positions. The discussion also touched upon planning for next year's changed school start times.
Notable Quotes (10)
one of my real things I like to tell people is don't rush to failure
where we we uh um broke down systems wise is we didn't vet the communication that went out
internally we can I know it's you're still working through it but hopefully internally we can learn and create processes so it's avoidable in the future
we didn't go out for an RFP All right we didn't go out and say okay what's best what's most compatible with our systems it was a single Source purchase no other vendors were considered and we just said we want this
power school was never updated
my biggest concern right now is the people that are on the front lines as we keep saying dealing with this um is there a plan to put more human resources behind this I don't want people to burn out
this is why we have to do the right thing on the front end and ensure formal processes are put in place where we vet equipment we vet programs properly to ensure that they work with the systems we have so that we don't end up like this
there's a child care crisis happening in the United States and that it's been happening for some time and the pandemic did really exacerbate the issue
the state has provided great starts funding which I've spoken of to the board I believe before uh that particular that has to be spent on wages and benefits for school AG Care or Child Care employees so we've been driving those funds into um our staff
how confident we are we're going to be able to um you know improve our weight lless numbers or at least not make the problem worse I think is kind of what we had said we're not going to do something that would make the problem worse
Ordinances & Resolutions (21)
Protection and Privacy of Pupil Records; undergoing first reading and revision.
Information Access and Decisionmaking; revoked as it is replaced by Policy 722.
Record Retention; revoked as its language is covered by Policy 515.
District strategic direction: Utilize systems and align resources in an efficient manner to support learning.
District strategic direction: Developed strong Partnerships with the communities we serve.
Federal law related to student privacy, Policy 515 is aligned with it.
State law emphasizing literacy, part of next year's curriculum priorities.
Student plans that require transportation information to flow to PowerSchool.
System holding student individual education plans.
Current Student Information System (SIS) that has compatibility and data integrity issues with Traversa.
Previous vendor for Student Information Services.
Old transportation routing system, replaced by Traversa.
New transportation routing and GPS system, experiencing compatibility issues with PowerSchool.
Local newspaper that will receive a statement regarding the school cancellation.
Recruiting tool used for Adventure Club staff.
Governing document for district goals, reflected in the Pony Plan.
Operational plan designed to make the district's strategic plan actionable.
Successfully passed, funding two new schools and significant additions/enhancements.
Model policy used as a reference for revising Policy 515.
Potential options for high school students to work for Adventure Club.
State funding provided for child care, used for Adventure Club staff wages and benefits.
Source document
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Other Topics from This Document
School Day Cancellation due to Power Outage
District Transportation System Challenges
Superintendent's Second-Year Performance Review
Policy Review: Pupil Records Protection and Privacy (Policy 515)
Policy Revocation: Information Access and Record Retention (Policies 722.1 and 725)
Adventure Club Program Update (Child Care)
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