Board approves superintendentguardrail report to address enrollment barriers; district outlines preschool, transportation partnerships

The Phoenix Elementary District governing board on the evening it met approved Superintendent Gonzalesmonitoring report for board guardrail No. 5, a plan to identify and address community barriers to student enrollment through community roundtables, revised transportation practices and partnerships to expand preschool and before/after-school options. The motion passed in a roll-call vote with two members voting yes and one voting no.

Guardrail No. 5 requires the superintendent not to allow the district to operate without a community-focused plan to mitigate enrollment barriers. Gonzales told the board that the district will use community roundtables and a short survey (available via QR code) to ask families what matters when choosing a school, what blocked previous enrollments and what the district should change. Gonzales said the roundtables will begin immediately and that the district is identifying community liaisons to help recruit participants.

The report lays out three interim components for 2025-26: (1) community outreach and roundtables to surface barriers; (2) more equitable and efficient transportation, including hub stops and a performance-based system for drivers; and (3) securing long-term partners to provide a sliding-fee schedule to subsidize preschool and extended-day services.

"Enrollment barriers are something that we're constantly working to try to find how we can do a better job," Superintendent Gonzales said during the presentation.

Transportation director (Mr.) Whittle described steps already in place to reduce outsourcing and improve on-time performance: a performance-based rating for drivers (rather than relying solely on seniority), increased use of district vehicles (the "white fleet") for one-off trips, hub stops to reduce door-to-door pickups, hiring of substitute drivers, and in-house routing to replace contracted services. Whittle said the district spent almost $750,000 on outsourced transportation last year and that the district currently estimates conservative cost savings of about $300,000 from the changes.

"We spent almost $750,000 last year on outsourcing our transportation," Whittle said, and the district is seeking to bring more work in-house to reduce costs and improve reliability.

Whittle gave a concrete example: one student who required service for one day (a three-mile morning and three-mile afternoon trip) cost the district $144 through an outsourced vendor; that route has since been brought in-house. He said the district is also using hub stops that serve clusters of students (for example: 20to30 students at specific hubs) and that most hub sites are staffed or supervised by adults.

Miss Sims, who presented the districtwork on partnerships, summarized preschool and extended-day programming and the partner network the district is using to reduce family costs. Sims said the district previously subsidized preschool at about $3,000,000 from maintenance and operations (M&O) funds; with partner funding and tuition arrangements this year the district expects to subsidize preschool at a rate between $400,000 and $500,000, producing a net savings of roughly $2.6 million relative to the prior-year subsidy level. Partners named in the presentation included the Department of Economic Security (DES), the YMCA, Quality First, the Boys and Girls Club and Head Start.

Sims identified current preschool and early learning site options for 2025-26: no-cost Head Start at Bethune, Edison, Lowell and Heard; a no-cost half-day option at Faith North; half-day tuition programming at Shaw Montessori ($500 per month) and full-day tuition programming for 4-year-olds at Kenilworth, Emerson and Shaw Montessori ($750 per month). Sims emphasized the districtrequirement that all district preschool classrooms employ certified teachers.

Sims also described braided funding and scholarship arrangements with partners: the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club offer before/after-school care and scholarship programs; a Y academy at Monterey Park provides extended-day childcare and transport from district half-day sites; and several campuses have 21st-century federal grants (approximately $100,000 per site) to support after-school programming.

Board members asked clarifying questions about hub supervision, how students are routed to hub stops, whether hub stops are staffed, and the timeline for the roundtables and surveys. Gonzales said roundtables and QR-code surveys will roll out in the coming week, with roundtables scheduled in partnership with local community organizations and the city of Phoenix.

Board member Dr. Alicia Vink cast the lone recorded "no" vote during the roll call on the monitoring report; President Carmen Trujillo and member Erica Valle voted "aye." Member Sue Ann Edmiston explained she had conceptual concerns about the guardrail approach and the short time shehad to review materials but did not record a roll-call position in the transcript excerpt; the superintendent said the board will return with results and further monitoring later in the year.

The board agreed to continue implementation and to present further monitoring information at future meetings, with a target completion of the full transportation study in May for final reporting on total savings.

The board moved on to other business after approving the guardrail monitoring report.