JCPS names new chief of schools, head of transportation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools has hired a new chief of schools and a new head of transportation.

The hires were announced by the district Wednesday.

Robert Moore, who will start Friday, replaces Devon Horton as chief of schools at JCPS while Marcus Dobbs, who will start Feb. 22, takes over for Donald Robinson as executive administrator of transportation. Horton left the district last year to become the new superintendent of Evanston/Skokie School District 65 in Illinois while Robinson accepted a new role at JCPS as head of facilities and maintenance.

“As a graduate of Shawnee High School and an administrator in our district, Mr. Moore knows firsthand what our students need to succeed,” JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said in a statement. “Mr. Dobbs is the right person to build on our strong transportation system and has been recognized for his professionalism across the state. As we continue to transform education in JCPS, I am encouraged to have these two proven leaders join our team.”

Dobbs currently works as head of transportation for Fayette County Public Schools, which was hit with a $9,000 fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a COVID-19 outbreak at a bus garage, according to a report by WKYT. A district spokesperson told the station that the OSHA fines were connected to failing to report a death linked to COVID-19 within eight hours and not reporting employee hospitalizations within 72 hours.

Dobbs won the J.T. Coomer Memorial Director of the Year from the Student Transportation Association of Kentucky in 2019, according to a JCPS news release.

“I continue to be inspired by students and I want to make sure the start and end to their day runs as smoothly as possible,” Dobbs said in a statement.

Moore has been the district’s supervisor of leadership and development since November 2019 and came to JCPS from Mason County Schools. A Shawnee High School graduate, he’s credited with helping develop a districtwide principal pipeline and an emerging leaders program, according to a district news release.

Robert Moore JCPS chief of schools.jpg — Robert Moore

“JCPS is a part of me, and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to help students at the schools that I went to and to help students across this district,” Moore said in a statement.