Transportation Assessment Stafford County Public Schools Discussion - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transportation Assessment

Stafford County Public Schools

Discussion of Results

School Board Work Session October 13, 2020 Tom Platt

Project History

 Oct‐Dec 2019: Familiarization, discovery, and baseline analysis of performance  Jan 2020: Preliminary operational findings discussion with staff  Jan‐Feb 2020: Further discovery and bell time assessment  Feb 2020: Findings & recommendations discussion with Superintendent  Mar 2020: Decision Briefing deliverable PANDEMIC RESPONSE

• TODAY: Goal is to refresh, reenergize, and move

forward

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This Session

 Thematic findings & recommendations discussion  Details behind the work (time permitting)  The path forward with a focus on the decisions required

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Thematic Findings Summary

• 1. Evolutionary growth and its implications:
• Answers the question – how did we arrive here?
• Operational challenges have undermined service

effectiveness and customer confidence

• Many pieces for success are in place; future focus

should be on cohesiveness of the whole

• 2. An efficient system, as designed…
• This removes a significant potential immediate

challenge

• Provides a foundation and starting point for future

success

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Thematic Findings Summary

• 3. …but this is not an effective system by design:
• Service quality is compromised in the design of the

system

• The design is a compromise that acknowledges hard

constraints set by bell times and emerging demands.

• Operational challenges exacerbated the design

problem.

• 4. Reestablishing a steady state following a difficult

school start will not suffice for the future:

• Regaining confidence requires deliberate and

concerted action ‐ fixing operational shortcomings will not be enough.

• Evolutionary growth, and change, will continue to

put new and increasing pressure on the system.

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Thematic Recommendations

1. Update, don’t reinvent, the infrastructure:

 Deliberately update the system’s documentary guidance to prompt process and procedural change.  Develop, document, and implement a technology migration and integration plan to leverage current investments, and to attract and retain the next generation of staff.  Update the organization structure and optimize this to process and technology changes.

• 2. Address the constraints:

 Transportation can do anything required, but it can’t do everything desired.  Deciding what the priorities are to be must be a policy decision.  Bell times need to change if:

• Service quality and effectiveness is to be a priority; and
• Adding buses and drivers is not feasible.

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Thematic Recommendations

• 3. Address the culture:

 Enforce policy, process, and procedure.  Put the authority where it belongs and make sure it stays there.  Educate the customers so they understand the nature of the constrained optimization problem, including the School Board, building administrators, and parents.

• 4. Improve tactically and continuously:

 Fix the strategic issues now, improve tactically and continuously later.  Change is constant; encourage a culture of continuous improvement.

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Growth and Change

 Foundational Constraints & Parameters  Organizational Infrastructure  Technological Infrastructure

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EDUCATION

Support Services Financing

Policy & Governance Design & Planning Operations Fleet Management

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation as Part of a System

The problems at startup in 2019 manifested here, but had their root cause further up the chain, and the

• perational backbone was

not fully prepared to adapt.

Policies, Regulations, & Procedures

Establishing a proper foundation for success

• Last reviewed and adopted division‐wide in 2013:
• The age of current guidance and the timing of this project

presents an opportunity for implementing necessary change at the policy (school board) level.

• Regulations and SOP’s are under administration and

departmental control, which presents an opportunity for

• rganizing further change after policy revision.
• Existing documentation is limited in scope:
• Relevant documented procedures are almost wholly absent

except for a driver‐oriented employee manual.

• Inter‐departmental responsibilities are ill‐defined at the policy

and regulation level.

• As a result, success is too dependent on institutional

knowledge:

• This is a recurrent theme throughout this assessment.
• There is a dependency on a small cohort of dedicated and long‐

tenured staff.

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Systemic Change

Increasing sophistication to keep up with growth

• Unchanged, static organization structure:
• The size and structure of the core management
• rganization is unchanged despite significant system

growth.

• Long‐tenured staff do not consistently challenge the

status quo.

• Misaligned responsibilities and reporting:
• Two hats for the Director is one too many.
• Personality dependencies hamper sound decision

making and effective operations.

• The current structure enables influencers outside of
• rganizational norms.

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Technology as Critical Infrastructure

Tools as leverage for change and sophistication

• Further technology integration for planning and
• perations will be a critical success factor for the future.
• Current technology use is inconsistent, siloed and poorly

integrated:

• RP routing software as a stand‐alone application.
• Two GPS tracking systems used for different purposes.
• Cameras are installed, but we still “pull the tape”.
• Tenure and knowledge as a substitute for integrated

technology is a tenuous strategy:

• The organization can only ride its best horses for so long.
• Certain individuals are “in charge” because it is all in their head.
• Pieces, parts, and “toes in the water”:
• Example: Tablets, but only 10 –
• Potential as game changer re: payroll
• Potential as game changer re: operations

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Transportation Performance

 By the numbers  Observational

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Performance by the Numbers

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Indicator Total Regular Trans Special Needs Active Routes 210 154.5 55.5 Cost per Route Bus $77,816 Cost per Student (planned) $593 $448 $6,353 Daily Runs per Bus 5.6 Capacity Utilization 64% 84% 9.3%

• Avg. Run Length (live time)

0:32 0:30 0:35

Key Performance Observations

• The system is efficient, as designed, but pressure is

increasing, particularly in special needs and programs.

• The contract system for driver compensation is a major

constraint on operational adaptation.

• The ongoing driver shortage demands thoughtfulness

and caution in devising the path forward.

• The causes and aftereffects of 2019 startup should be

viewed as an opportunity to reposition for the future.

• A concerted effort at process and procedural

documentation can be a significant lever for change.

• The staying power of paper, and legacy processes pose

the single biggest hurdle to overcome.

• Misaligned staff assignments and reporting relationships

can be most readily corrected as part of the process redesign, including a renewed technology strategy.

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Transportation & Bell Times

 The current situation: Constraints and their effect  Thinking of change: Complexities  Thinking of improvement: Possibilities

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210 Buses: Fleet Deployment Visualized

Clean and well balanced by appearances

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20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

5:45 5:50 5:55 6:00 6:05 6:10 6:15 6:20 6:25 6:30 6:35 6:40 6:45 6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 7:15 7:20 7:25 7:30 7:35 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:00 8:05 8:10 8:15 8:20 8:25 8:30 8:35 8:40 8:45 8:50 8:55 9:00 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30 9:35 9:40

Count of Buses Carrying Students ‐ AM

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

13:45 13:50 13:55 14:00 14:05 14:10 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:40 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:00 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:20 15:25 15:30 15:35 15:40 15:45 15:50 15:55 16:00 16:05 16:10 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:30 16:35 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:00 17:05 17:10 17:15 17:20 17:25 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:45

Count of Buses Carrying Students ‐ PM

Hidden Constraints and their Effect

• 210 route buses require 210 operators, every day:
• With insufficient numbers, the system no longer operates as

designed.

• The staff size and attendance pattern made it challenging to

reach this target every day.

• An efficient, but not entirely effective, 3‐tier system by

design:

• A roughly equal 45‐minute time separation between tiers and

equal instructional day length across grade levels is a strong starting point.

• The system is well balanced across tiers.
• The system enjoys strong capacity and asset utilization.
• Issues arise in the underlying details:
• Morning tier 1 & 2 (High Schools, then Middle Schools):
• 119 RegEd runs + 31 SpEd runs = 150 route buses
• Add 54 “other” runs = 204 route buses in use
• Morning tier 3 (Elementary Schools)
• 172 RegEd runs + 47 SpEd runs = 219 route buses required

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Complexities Dissected

• Overlaps & Doubling:
• 89 of 119 RegEd HS runs finish after 7:00 AM for a 7:15 start

leading to potential domino effect delays.

• 16 of 119 RegEd MS runs also start before 7:00 AM, indicating

issues with the inherent length of runs and whether they can be completed in the 45‐minute work time interval.

• 32 MS runs also finish after 8:00, exacerbating the domino effect

delays for subsequent ES runs.

• 219 route buses are theoretically required to complete the third

tier; 35 buses are therefore planned to perform double runs to elementary schools to make this system work.

• Non‐traditional demands:
• 54 route buses are devoted to this work on Tier 1 and 2 (25.7% of

the fleet).

• Currently, 48 of the 54 finish their morning work before 8:00.
• What if (when) these demands expand and/or start spilling into

tier 3?

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Tier Structure Complexities Visualized

Hidden constraints undermining service quality

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Bus 6:00 6:05 6:10 6:15 6:20 6:25 6:30 6:35 6:40 6:45 6:50 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:10 7:15 7:20 7:25 7:30 7:35 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:00 8:05 8:10 8:15 8:20 8:25 8:30 8:35 8:40 8:45 8:50 8:55 9:00 SSB010 992.6 A NORTH STAR ECC S 30.3A BURNS ES SSB020 19.04 A BPHS 5.12 A SMS 7.06 A1 SES SES 7.06 A2 SSB047 27.13 A MOUNTAIN VIEW HS 14.07 A A.G. WRIGHT MS 16.9 A RES

SSB010: “Other” complexities – timing of one long run preventing further asset utilization on tier 1 and 2. SSB020: “Doubling” inequities – two groups of students dropped at one school 20 minutes apart SSB047: “Clean” tiering, late arrival – Example of clean three‐tier utilization, but with a planned late arrival on tier 2.

Bell times: Possibilities for Change

 Efficiency is all about available work time, and balancing this against the educational needs of the students (constrained optimization):

• Stretch the ends to flatten the peaks and/or increase the interval between

tiers.

• Lowering total demand would reduce the number of operators required.
• Increasing the length of the workday would better fit the contract time

structure for drivers.

 Effectiveness/ Service quality improvement outside of operational changes will require resolving inequities and changing unrealistic constraints at the policy level:

• Creating a complete or offset 4th tier for ES might help.
• Marginal additional changes to pull the tiers further apart to add work time

would likely also be required.

• Flipping HS and ES to achieve later start for HS students would be entirely

feasible, except for the heavy “other” demands on tier 1 and 2.

 Key understanding required –There are many moving parts:

• Determining the independent and dependent variables is a critical first

step.

• Key determination: What are we solving for?

 Key question: Is the organization capable of managing the change for any given policy solution?

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The Path Forward

 The pressure for change  The pressure of growth  General recommendations

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Growth and the Pressure for Change

 Geographic and demographic change:

• It isn’t stopping; Stafford is caught in the middle
• Returning to the old status quo is probably not an
• ption

 Lessons from startup 2019:

• A system works, until it doesn’t
• Change has been gradual; adaptation works until a

breaking point is reached

• Crisis was apparent, not real
• Efficiency is not the issue; Effectiveness, and

therefore confidence, was undermined

 Problem or opportunity?

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Specific Recommendations

Decision Points

 Policies as expectations (Decision 1 & 2)  Technology as an enabler (Decision 3)  Organizational adaptation (Decision 4 & 5)

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Decision 1 – Revise Policies & Procedures

A Board decision to proceed is recommended

Actions to follow the decision:

• 1. Form a Transportation Policy Committee
• 2. Set objectives and the timeline for completion
• 3. Once revised policies have been approved by the

School Board, and regulations by the Superintendent, the Transportation Department itself should undertake an effort to expand and revise its supporting procedural documentation

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Decision 2 – Realign Bell Times

A Board decision to study is recommended

Actions to follow the decision:

• 1. Draft and submit for approval the parameters for

the school start times assessment

• 2. Complete the initial assessment
• 3. Evaluate the results and develop

recommendations for the consideration of the School Board

• 4. School Board action

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Decision 3 –Technology Advancement

An initial commitment of staff work is required

Actions to follow the decision:

• 1. Delegate to appropriate departmental staff the

responsibility, and provide the resources, to focus

• n technology integration and use.
• 2. In parallel with and using the revised procedural

documentation as a starting point, staff should develop a multi‐year technology enhancement plan and submit this for funding approval.

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Decision 4 – Organizational Changes

A Superintendent decision to study is recommended

Actions to follow the decision: 1. Delegate to departmental leadership the requirement to assess organizational and reporting relationships by functional area.

• 2. Informed by the requirements of revised policy,

recommend any changes to requirements by head count, education, and experience. 3. Following approval and with appropriate assistance from within the school division, draft and seek approval for revised position descriptions, as required.

• 4. Develop a staff migration plan to meet the

requirements of the revised organization structure.

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Decision 5 – Consider Driver Contracts

A Superintendent decision to study is recommended

Actions to follow the decision:

• 1. Form a standing committee of representative

stakeholders to begin ongoing discussions.

• 2. Use this committee to consider and make

recommendations for changes to the current structure, but only after all the implications for bus operator requirements resulting from the

• ther initiatives are known.

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Questions

Tom Platt

O: (301) 244‐2521 M: (301) 461‐4084 E: tplatt@decisionsupportgroup.com Web: www.decisionsupportgroup.com

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