JCPS board chair concerned about access to magnet schools if buses cut

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The chairman of the Jefferson County school board worries the district's plan to cut bus transportation for magnet and traditional schools will disproportionately affect racial minorities.

"My main concern is that we will limit the number of Black and immigrant children who will be able to attend magnet schools," JCPS board Chairman Corrie Shull told WDRB News in an interview Tuesday.

But Shull — one of seven members of the elected school board — stopped short of revealing how he plans to vote Tuesday evening, when the board will be asked to give the final OK to the plan.

About 14,000 students would lose bus service next school year under Superintendent Marty Pollio's plan to cut transportation for students attending magnet schools, traditional schools and Academies of Louisville high school programs at schools that are not their resides school, the district has said.

Pollio has said a shortage of bus drivers leaves the district with only one option to get students to and from school on time, which is to deny bus service to certain students.

About a quarter of the district's 61,000 bus riders would no longer be eligible for transportation if the district's plan were implemented today. However, it is not yet known how many magnet / traditional students would transfer to their resides schools for the upcoming school year to maintain their access to a bus.

In an email Tuesday, JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said the plan is the best alternative, even for minority students, among a set of hard choices.

"Eliminating magnet transportation is the most equitable option with the least negative impact on students of color," Callahan said. "Black and other students of color make up the majority of JCPS bus riders. They are disproportionately being impacted right now by the shortage of drivers and the resulting late-arriving buses."

About 6,500 of the 8,000 Black students who currently attend JCPS magnet and traditional schools ride the bus, she said. "Yes, we understand those students will be impacted, as will all students who make the choice to attend a magnet school and need a ride to get there," Callahan said.

The Louisville branch of the NAACP, however, strongly opposes the district's plan.

"They say they're trying to solve problems, but it will again, put the burden on Black, brown and poor students," Raoul Cunningham, president of the Louisville NAACP branch, told WDRB on Tuesday.

Cunningham said the district should "go back to the drawing board to try to figure out a solution that would be equitable and fair."

Only two of the board's other six members responded to WDRB News on Tuesday.

Linda Duncan said the focus should be on what will benefit the most students, while Gail Strange said she believes denying transportation is the wrong decision.

Neither Duncan nor Strange said explicitly whether they support the Pollio's plan.

The board is set to consider transportation options a day after it released an independent examination of the district's disastrous rollout of new bus routes and school start times in August 2023.

Bus delays were so bad at the start of the school year that the district canceled school during the first week.

The audit was critical of JCPS' communication during the fiasco.

Cunningham said the debacle plays into the hands of state lawmakers who have pushed the idea of splitting Jefferson County into multiple school districts.

"The report issued yesterday gives ammunition to those in Frankfort who would want to split JCPS," he said.

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