JCPS outlines changes to district magnet programs with new offerings, diversity targets

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Changes for magnet programs at Jefferson County Public Schools will be a five-year process if proposed revisions to the district’s expansive student assignment plan are approved, officials told members of the Jefferson County Board of Education Tuesday.

JCPS has proposed sweeping changes to its student assignment plan beginning in the 2023-24 school year, and the school board is expected to consider those revisions in late May at the earliest.

Tuesday’s board meeting focused on possible revisions to the district’s magnet programs. Board members previously discussed school enrollment boundaries, a critical element of the proposed changes, during an April 12 meeting.

JCPS released updated boundaries, which will further cut the number of proposed “feeder patterns” for the progression of students through elementary, middle and high schools from 90 to 23, on Monday after some families expressed concerns of using Bardstown Road to divide enrollment zones for Atherton and Waggener high schools. Proposed enrollment boundaries for five high schools were altered.

Improving diversity in JCPS magnet programs is a key goal for the district. Magnet Schools of America highlighted barriers to bolstering diversity at JCPS magnet programs in a 2014 report to the district, such as inconsistent and opaque selection criteria and lackluster recruitment efforts.

The district’s student assignment proposal calls for moving to a centralized lottery system for magnet programs that utilize admission lotteries and providing families with clear admission criteria for schools with specific enrollment requirements. JCPS also proposes replicating popular magnet programs, increasing available seats, creating diversity targets for its magnets and prohibiting magnets from kicking students out through school-initiated exits.

“This is going to be a mindset shift for our district,” said Amanda Averette-Bush, executive administrator of school choice for JCPS.

The district plans to use the first two years of the student assignment changes, if they pass muster with the board, to introduce the new centralized lottery system for magnet programs. The new student assignment platform, called SchoolMint, would also include admission criteria for programs that have specific requirements for enrollment, Averette-Bush said.

“It’s being transparent about the criteria, which we have not been previously,” Superintendent Marty Pollio said.

JCPS would set an enrollment boundary for Butler and Male traditional high schools and look to expand and replicate magnet programs in the first two years of the proposed student assignment plan.

Hawthorne Elementary would become a Spanish-immersion magnet, whole-school magnets would open at Western Middle and sixth through eighth grades at the Academy @ Shawnee, Foster and Shelby traditional programs would consolidate, Kennedy and Coleridge-Taylor Montessori schools would consolidate, Western High would open a magnet program focused on coding, computer science, science, technology, engineering, arts and math, and another visual performing arts elementary magnet school would open within the first two years of revisions to the district’s student assignment plan, according to the JCPS proposal.

JCPS would also set diversity targets for its magnet programs in the first two years of student assignment changes. Averette-Bush said the district would need to concentrate recruitment to inform families of magnet options available to them, noting that about 14% of the district’s Black students participate in the “extremely stressful application process” for magnet programs.

“We want to make sure that families are armed with that information to make that informed choice moving forward about our magnet schools and programs and that that option is there and not only is it there, but you have an opportunity to get in because it may be that they don't trust that if I apply to this magnet then I'm actually going to get accepted,” she said.

The district plans to create a new procedure to open themed magnet programs, adjust programs’ capacities to accommodate student interest, align schools with similar themed programs, and classify programs that are magnets and in the district’s Academies of Louisville with a special terminology to ensure availability of districtwide transportation in the third, fourth and fifth years of student assignment revisions, according to board materials.

Expansion of Grace James Academy

The board voted unanimously to expand the Grace James Academy of Excellence to include high school grades.

The science, technology, engineering, arts and math academy geared toward females of color opened in the 2020-21 school year beginning with its inaugural sixth grade class. The school will expand to eighth grade offerings in the 2022-23 school year.

The district’s plan to include high school grades at Grace James calls for a similar gradual expansion of one grade per year. The academy’s first freshman class will begin in the 2023-24 school year.

Missed school day forgiven

The board voted 6-1 to forgive the April 14 district closure for students after severe weather struck Jefferson County.

Board member James Craig, who represents District 3, voted against the updated calendar, citing concerns with lost learning time for students.

Updated board districts

The board voted unanimously on updated board district boundaries based on the latest U.S. Census data.

Only one school would change board districts. Watterson Elementary would move to District 2, represented by Chris Kolb, from District 7, represented by Sarah Cole McIntosh.