A board policy largely prohibiting students’ use of app-based rideshare services during the regular school day could soon be added within Naperville School District 203, based on a recent discussion.
Administrators provided the board of education with a draft policy at a meeting Monday, May 18. One-time exceptions could be granted if parents sign a waiver form ahead of time, based on the proposal.
Potentially a first-of-its-kind in Illinois
In a memo to the board, Mark Cohen, deputy superintendent for high schools, indicated action will be requested at the next meeting Monday, June 1.
If adopted, Naperville 203 could be the first Illinois district to have such a policy on its books. Administrators indicated they were not aware of any others within the state with such a policy.
“Essentially, what we’re looking at doing is adopting a policy that strictly prohibits the practice of private rideshare services during school hours for students under the age of 18,” Superintendent Dan Bridges said.
To date, the Illinois Association of School Boards’ Policy Reference Education Subscription Service has not created a boilerplate ordinance for districts to adopt, meaning Naperville 203 had to lean on its own legal counsel to draft the document.
“Knowing that we have some responsibility for the safety of our kids, along with the parents, we sought advice of our legal counsel,” Bridges said. “There was a recommendation (from legal counsel) that we do adopt the policy.”
Drivers behind the rideshare restrictions policy proposal
Throughout the recent discussion, multiple Naperville 203 administrators reported an increase in parent and guardian requests for services of this nature during the regular school day.
“The rationale and driver behind this, really, is we have been seeing an increase in the number of students whose parents are arranging for their students to leave during the school day via a rideshare service,” Bridges said.
At the board meeting, Allison Boutet, assistant superintendent for junior high, spoke of first-hand experiences in the rideshare requests.
“We’re specifically seeing this at the middle school level,” Boutet said. “I know the high school level does, too, but they have open campus, and students with more flexible school hours.”
Speaking to the types of scenarios that prompt rideshare requests, Boutet indicated they run the gamut.
“Sometimes students have medical appointments or there’s discipline or a medical situation, and parents are not able to come get them or would like them to take a rideshare service home,” she said.
Legal counsel has recommended the rideshare policy because of liability-related concerns.
“Lyft and Uber don’t come and sign the child out. We don’t know if a parent would always want that, ongoing, into the future,” Boutet noted. “If something were to happen to them, on their way home from school, or to wherever they are going, the liability could come back to us, so that is why we are in this situation.”
Board members, including Melissa Kelley Black, said they understood the thinking behind the policy and, at first blush, suggested they would support it when it comes up for a vote.
“I see the concerns,” Kelley Black said. “I definitely say that if there was any talk of doing the policy waivers, I would agree with you that it would need to be (submitted) every single time.”
Rationale behind the one-time waiver
In keeping with Naperville 203’s stance on equity for all students, the door could be open for one-time waivers to ensure students of all background in extenuating circumstances are able to go to an appointment during the school day — even if a parent or guardian is unable to pick them up.
Board member Holly Blastic thanked administrators “for being on the forefront of this” and noted the overall scenario is “a hard situation to be in.”
“It is an equity issue because there are parents that can’t get there, and their junior high or high school kid just needs to go to the orthodontist because their bracket broke, and it hurt, and you just want to get them there,” Blastic said. “I understand why parents really need to do this, and that it’s happening.”
The one-time waiver during the course of a given school year could be a means of protecting Naperville 203 from liability and still providing families with multiple options to meet their needs.
“Thank you for thinking about this and putting this policy together, as well as the waiver, because I think it is necessary sometimes for some families to have to use that every so often,” board member Joseph Kozminski said of the proposed provision.
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