Parent urges board to reexamine family responsibility zones at low‑income C.C. Spaulding Elementary

A parent at Thursday’s Durham Public Schools board meeting asked the board to reconsider the district’s family responsibility zone policy for low‑income elementary schools, citing safety and access barriers that she said make daily attendance difficult. Core concerns: Emily Khan, a parent of two Durham students, said the policy treats all schools the same but fails to address structural obstacles that families in the C.C. Spaulding area face: limited sidewalks, a school located on a high‑speed road, scarce vehicle access among families, parents who work inflexible shifts, and recent police activity near the neighborhood that prompted a lockdown that same afternoon. Khan said community volunteers cannot safely cover every family at dismissal and that the policy is not improving attendance but instead making it harder for children to get to school safely. What she asked: Khan urged the board to “reconsider this rule for low income schools and instead work with families and communities to remove barriers, not add them.” She framed the change as an equity issue, distinguishing “fairness” (treating everyone the same) from “justice” (addressing different barriers for different families). Board response: Board members listened and acknowledged the concern; no formal change to the policy was made during the meeting.