Recently, a former BOE Member and proxy for Ms. Stanley on Social media accused Ms. Khanna of changing her positions within the context of Courtesy Busing, or – as he put it- this “child safety” policy.
Again, let’s look at the facts behind this empirically thin argument.
Here is another clip of Ms. Stanley arguing that we get rid of Courtesy busing using the same arguments many of those who want to improve NOT abolish the service are making today. These comments were made a mere 12 months ago.
Instead of cutting legal costs and administrative positions to address what we now know was a manufactured “fiscal cliff” by the District Administration at the time, Ms. Stanley made an impassioned plea to eliminate courtesy busing. One year later she is arguing the very opposite position despite the fact that the District has no new information.
Here is the clip of another statement she made on this issue in 2023 that was published yesterday:
In those same meeting sets, pay close attention to what Ms. Khanna is asking for. A survey to parents and more data on this issue so that the District could make a more effective long-term plan. This was one year ago.
The District responded by saying that this was something that would be worked on immediately – again in 2023.
As Ms. Khanna and Dr. Foregger were outnumbered at the time, the best that was achieved was an 11th-hour hire of a consultancy firm that failed miserably along with transportation study that was implemented just before this years budget with no data.
Yet, it was Ms. Stanley who accused Ms. Khanna of being dishonest during the most recent BOE Meeting on Courtesy Busing. She also called Ms. Akiri “honey” during that meeting – just to give you a sense of what was going on.
It is Ms. Stanley’s former BOE proxy who implies Ms. Khanna is being inconsistent.
During the most recent meeting Ms. Stanley made another shocking proclamation that the District would simply continue it’s practice of courtesy busing. This is rather incredible as she has no right to say that – she is not the Board and there is no policy approving this service. Courtesy Busing is a product of funding through the Budget process which needs to be approved by the Board.
Instead of choosing to work with Board members to use what time is left to fix this, she implies that the District will strong arm a policy as they see fit.
This is not democracy or sound leadership.
All BOE members represent their constituents – and when differing opinions exist, the path to success isn’t “my way or the highway”. It creates a dangerous precedent that forwards the notion that a District can do whatever it wants with no regard to the will of it’s elected leadership.
Interestingly, Ms. Penna did not respond to this statement yet in 2022, Ms. Penna attempted to spin free speech as anti-democratic:
“We see statements in social media suffixed with “This is my personal opinion and not the opinion of the Board.” That is simply a red flag when used out of election season. It says, “I am not succeeding in the democratic process within the board, so I am going to go rogue for my own personal gain.” Ask yourself this question: What would happen if you did this at work? What would the implications be? ” link
Ms. Penna remained silent as Ms. Stanley proclaimed that an elected body’s vote did not matter.
A public representative speaking on issues is anti-democratic, yet a BOE Member going rogue and attempting to force through a program when her policy failed isn’t worth a mention?
The issue of bussing has to be decided by the Board – circumventing an elected body will in fact lead to lawsuits as parents will wonder why they have to pay for bussing when there is no coherent policy in place and their elected representatives never voted one through. It will also lead to more allegations of ethics violations, and it should.
It is my sincere hope that Ms. Stanley doesn’t try to turn this into an election issue and meets with other BOE members with an open mind to fix it. There are families on both sides of this issue who need this resolved.
There is still time. Let’s not waste it on posturing and false arguments.
Let’s focus on getting bussing to families who really need it and provide sound and affordable options to working families who do not live on hazardous roads.
