LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Monday marked the final day that bus drivers for Jefferson County Public Schools simulated their routes before reporting for various other duties while classrooms in Kentucky’s largest school district remain closed.
District and union leaders reached an agreement allowing bus drivers and other transportation employees to transition to other roles within JCPS while students learn remotely in its nontraditional instruction platform, called “NTI 2.0,” for at least the first six weeks of the 2020-21 school year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bus drivers are simulating their routes in anticipation of an eventual return to schools for students, teachers and staff.
John Stovall, president of Teamsters Local 783, said drivers need time to familiarize themselves with their routes and stops even though students aren’t being transported to schools. The extra practice will come in handy when drivers hit the road at 5:30 a.m. once classes resume at JCPS, he said.
“It’s dark, and a lot of the time the streets don’t have the right street signs up,” Stovall said. “… It makes them an expert at that run so they know from day one when they go out, they know where the stops are and they know where they’re supposed to pick a kid up.”
“There’s less chance of a kid getting stuck on a bus or sitting at a bus stop waiting to get picked up,” he said, noting that drivers have been practicing their routes for the past 15 years at JCPS.
District spokesman Mark Hebert said transportation workers will begin reporting for other duties Tuesday.
Hebert said 700 will be assigned to housekeeping duties in schools, 143 will work in information technology and 40 will help with groundskeeping, among other new roles that will allow them to continue collecting paychecks and receiving benefits during the start of the school year.
Drivers have also helped deliver meals to food sites and Chromebooks to schools, Stovall said.
Most transportation employees are “happy and thankful” to have jobs at a time when millions are unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic restrictions that have been enacted in hopes of containing the spread of the coronavirus, he said.
“Ninety-five percent of them are happy and I don’t want to say excited, but sometimes something different is fun, too,” Stovall said. “But like I said, we’ve got the 5% no matter what you gave them, they’d find something wrong with it.”
JCPS has no plans to deliver meals directly to students currently, Hebert said. The district had gauged parents on their interest in having meals delivered as they signed up for food service during nontraditional instruction.
The district is planning to apply for a waiver with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue offering meals to Jefferson County youths regardless of whether they’re JCPS students, similar to meal services offered by JCPS during the spring and summer, Hebert said.
JCPS served 7,553 meals to students on Tuesday and 9,548 meals on Thursday under its updated schedule, he said, noting that during normal school days the district typically serves 42,000 breakfasts and 65,000 lunches.
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