Leaders from the Goodman Community Center are formally requesting that the Madison school district amend its transportation policy and continue to provide bus service to its elementary after-school program. The neighborhood center submitted a draft proposal to the school board on May 28.

Goodman learned several months ago through word of mouth that the district would no longer provide buses to bring students from Lowell and Emerson elementary schools to the community center for after-school programming. This service had been in place for 15 years, but Dr. TJ McCray, deputy superintendent, said in a May 14 letter to Goodman Center president Chris Talton that the routes were no longer eligible under district policy.

Goodman’s proposal asks that the district provide transportation if 14 or more students regularly attend the same “licensed childcare center, afterschool program, or designated community partner.” It also would allow the district to enter into “cost-sharing agreements” with organizations that do not qualify for transportation services under the current rules.

Changes to the policy would have to be approved by the Madison school board. Goodman leaders hope that their proposal is put on the June 8 agenda of the board’s operations work group.

“After-school opportunities require access, and transportation is access,” says Noah Salata, vice president of philanthropy and community engagement at Goodman.“That is something we really need to put front and center in this conversation.

“MMSD is a huge partner of ours — an amazing partner,” he adds. Salata says that cutting off bus service to after-school programs would have an “immediate impact on families” and he is hoping the district is open to talking about “a solution.”

District communications staff did not respond to repeated requests for comment. It is not clear whether other after-school programs are affected. 

School board member Martha Siravo says the board did not vote on the district's decision to eliminate after-school bus service to Goodman and she is still seeking information on the issue from administrators. Siravo adds that she's personally “all about trying to work things out, especially if something was working really well,” and hopes for a positive outcome. 

Board member Nicki Vander Muelen says she is "extremely disturbed" by the change. She adds that in her opinion, "the lack of transparency and secrecy on this decision calls into question whether MMSD is truly being a good partner with other community groups." 

Just under 100 students are signed up to attend Goodman’s after-school program in the fall and 75 are on a wait list, according to Salata.

Annie Hank Braga has three young children who attend Goodman’s after-school program. “ I think every family that attends Goodman is impacted,” she says. Most, she adds, are “working families that rely on after-school care.”

For Brian Ward and Kate Diamond, Goodman is not “just a place to drop off your kids,” says Ward, but a “holistic” space where their son continues learning academically and socially after school. As full-time educators, they rely on Goodman for childcare, and Ward worries that without alternatives, transportation cuts “will be impacting primarily lower-income students of color.”

“I think there’s an assumption that people have alternatives, (but) childcare is such an issue here,” adds Ward. “If you cut back on that it’s going to make things more difficult than they already are.”

In his May 14 letter, McCray said the district cuts are a result of an audit of transportation services last summer.

McCray said that Goodman, which is roughly .4 miles away from Lowell Elementary, is too close to qualify for busing under district policy. And Emerson Elementary, which is about .7 miles from Goodman, is ineligible under a different policy because the center is outside Emerson’s attendance area. While the bus service had previously been treated as an exception, McCray wrote that exceptions are no longer manageable due to the “significant increase in ridership and the rising costs of specialized routes.”

Talton counters that after-school programs are not referenced at all in the district’s transportation policies. “So it's not non-compliant (with the policy), it's unaddressed.”

Talton and Salata say that in initial conversations, district leaders have not presented any potential solutions for transporting children to after-school programs. They say they learned that the district had plans to teach children how to walk safely from an article by the Wisconsin State Journal. Salata describes feeling “disbelief” at the suggestion that students between the ages of 5 and 11 could walk to the center, adding that it “can’t be a long-term solution.”

Hank Braga agrees that having children walk to Goodman after school is not a viable option. “I can't see letting my children cross six lanes of traffic on East Washington Avenue and travel to Goodman,” she says. Ward and Diamond say they would “absolutely not” allow their son, who will be going into second grade, to walk to Goodman alone, but might be open to an adult walking with them. All three parents want to figure out a way to keep their children in the program.

Salata and Talton acknowledge that many families would have no choice but to allow their kids to walk, as alternative childcare options aren’t affordable. Goodman offers scholarships to many families who require financial assistance for after-school care. In their amendment proposal, Goodman officials ask the board to consider factors such as student safety, equitable access to after-school programs, and community need when making transportation eligibility decisions.

“ We will make sure that our kids get here safely,” Salata says, acknowledging that any potential solution might involve the center kicking in money for transportation. “That will strain our resources — both people and dollars — but Goodman is committed to making sure that our families have after-school care and access here, 100%. We just hope that that solution is a collaborative one where we all meet in the middle and it actually benefits our community.”

[Editor's note: This article was updated to include comments from Madison school board members Martha Siravo and Nicki Vander Muelen.]