What types of transportation do you and your family use during an average week, and how has this shaped your view of transportation policy for schools?

I typically drive. This is less out of preference than necessity. My trip to work can be accomplished in around 15-20 mins by car but it can often take over an hour if I use the CTA. And that is if the buses align which - as we know - is a rare phenomenon in this age of ghost buses. The same is true of my daughter’s trip to school: fast by car, hour plus by public transit. We live in a city where vehicles and vehicle owners are prioritized. This must change; not everyone wants to own a car and certainly not everyone can afford to. I shouldn’t have to drive my daughter to school. She should be able to take public transit, walk or bike, and arrive roughly as fast and as safely as if I were to drive her.

What are some of the transportation challenges that families and students face in your district?

Six lane uncontrolled arterials, an absence of protected bike lanes, not a single raised intersection at any school in the entire district - our students face perilous journeys to school. Many parents who send their kids to magnet schools don’t feel comfortable having their children ride the CTA, if there even is a rail line near where they live or where they are headed. Sadly, in this respect, our district is not unique. Students all over the city face these issues when they go to school. I recently spoke with a parent who discussed the persistent fear they feel when their not yet 4 foot tall child has to cross one of the countless arterials to walk to school. This is a problem that must be solved.

School pick up/drop off can be chaotic and at times unsafe. What are ways you think this could be improved?

What makes pick up and drop off unsafe is cars and the accompanying autocentric built environment. If we were to build infrastructure in the city of Chicago that prioritized people’s ability to rapidly and cost effectively commute without a vehicle the safety problem would solve itself. I want to see all schools be accessible by foot, bike, and public transit.

Studies show that childhood independence is critical for individual development. How can Chicago Public Schools better empower families to allow their children to be able to navigate independently – and most importantly, safely – to and from school?

We should encourage public transit use in the same way that NYC does. I would support providing all students with a prepaid ventra card to allow them to commute to school, from school, and to after school activities at no-cost. I also support rebuilding streets with an eye towards pedestrian and bicycle safety; every school should be served by protected bike lanes and raised intersections and no child should have to cross 6 lane roads to get to school. By making public transit more accessible and rebuilding infrastructure to reduce the risk caused by motor vehicles we can make non-vehicular transport the mode of choice.

Most CPS students are offered driver's education when the time comes, but few are given the opportunity to learn about alternatives. What kind of educational opportunities around transportation do you think students should have?

Unlike vehicles, an ideal system of public transit and active transport doesn’t require training in the same sense. By taking the train to school, you don’t risk hitting someone crossing the street like you do with a car. So counterintuitively, I would say the focus should be on building the transportation alternatives and making them ubiquitous instead of training students to use them. This being said, I would absolutely support providing education on how to safely use Chicago's non-car transportation infrastructure.

Increasingly,  a lack of busing has become a serious burden for many families’ day-to-day lives as services continue to be cut. What are some short-term and long-term solutions that you think would address this?

We must restore bussing for all students who need it. To accomplish this we need to hire bus drivers. You can’t bus kids if there is no one to drive the bus. I view the problem as an eminently solvable labor market issue that can be addressed through tried and true solutions:

• We will simplify the application process. You should be able to apply and schedule an interview within 24 hours. Bus drivers are in demand, we need to hire them as soon as we identify that they are a good fit. Anything less and they may go somewhere else. After they are offered the job, we need to expedite the background check process. Ideally we will be paying them while they go through their pre-onboarding and onboarding processes. Their pay should be contingent on them completing the process and being staffed. By taking on CPS’s overly bureaucratic, time consuming, complicated, and expensive application process we can tackle the friction that causes people not to apply and to attrit during onboarding; We need to do everything we can to get these folks in the door.

• We must work to increase the supply of people trained to the job by funding Commercial Driver’s Licensure and offering both coursework and the exam in Spanish and English.

• Lastly, we have to make the job attractive. We can do this by offering signing bonuses, raising wages to match or exceed the pay levels in suburban districts, the CTA and private CDL employers.-Instead of viewing bussing as a service that can be cut to make room for other needs, I will treat it as a necessity deserving of time and financial resources.

For many years now, Chicago Public Schools has failed to meet federally mandated requirements for accessible transportation for students with disabilities. How do you envision ensuring that students with disabilities’ transportation needs are met?

By fully implementing the above we can guarantee that there are sufficient spots for students with disabilities. I want to provide bussing for all, not just for some. Of course, we must first prioritize our students with disabilities, but that cannot be all that we do; bussing must be treated as a necessity not a luxury.