After busing cuts, JCPS parent still working to find transportation for daughter at magnet school

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools goes back to class Aug. 8, but some families are still trying to figure out their plan for transportation.

A big change this year is that most magnet and traditional school students won't have a bus to get them to or from school.

Nicole Williams, a JCPS parent, said she has limited options. She's trying to make it work to keep her daughter enrolled at duPont Manual High School.

"It's going to be like a day-by-day thing, and we're just going to have to figure it out day-by-day," Williams said.

Williams' daughter, Erica Geer, is starting her junior year at Manual. It's a school with a dance program and track team she loves, but unlike Geer's first two years of high school, she won't have a school bus this time.

"I don't live close enough for her to walk, so right now it's just like, OK, I guess we've just got to kind of play it by ear and see what's going to happen," said Williams.

She and her neighbor are working on a plan to help carpool in the mornings, but Williams isn't sure how her daughter will get home in the afternoons. Geer doesn't have a license to drive herself, and Williams can't miss work.

"We're going to try to swap out days or weeks or something and try to figure out how we can get them there," she said.

All this comes after the JCPS board voted to eliminate transportation for most magnet and traditional school students this upcoming school year. That means thousands of kids that are not going to their resides schools won't have school bus transportation. JCPS said it's hoping this new plan will help get kids to school on time.

"(It was a) tough decision we had to make, but we think it's something we had to do, which was making sure that we had more bus drivers than routes and guaranteeing kids to be on time transportation to their reside school," said Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio on Wednesday.

There is hope that some school bus transportation can come back later in the school year. In a statement Thursday, JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said:

"As Dr. Pollio mentioned at the last Board meeting, the goal is to restore some transportation to some magnet/traditional school students that start at 7:30 a.m. That is not a change that can happen until after the first day of school and any recommendation would need to be approved by the Board. It would then take a few weeks to go through the process of finding out which students would select transportation and get those students routed."

To help with the bus driver shortage in school districts across the state, a new Kentucky law allows for the use of smaller passenger vans to transport students on a more routine basis. It's something JCPS plans to take advantage of as it hopes to avoid a repeat of the first day of school last August, when some students got home as late as 10 p.m.

JCPS said it has 30 vans ready to go. However, it's unlikely this will be a remedy for Williams' daughter, at least a this point. The priority will be to use the vans to transport students experiencing homelessness or with special needs, which is required by federal law. But, the district said it will also use the vans to help transport smaller groups of students to schools, and in a pinch.

JCPS board member Linda Duncan said she hopes the district has enough bus drivers to get all non-magnet/traditional students to and from school on time. She expects the recently hired TARC drivers to help accomplish that, before adding adding any more routes.

Williams hopes solutions can be found during the school year to add more buses back for students like her daughter. She believes "sooner or later" it will all work out.

"I refuse to give up on either one of my children and by any means necessary we're going to make something happen," Williams said.

The first day of school for JCPS is Thursday, Aug. 8.

More JCPS coverage:

After busing cuts, JCPS parent still working to find transportation for daughter at magnet school