LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After more than two hours of heated discussion, the Jefferson County Board of Education voted to cut transportation for thousands of Louisville students.

The board voted for a plan that will cut transportation to all magnet and traditional schools, with the exception of Central and Western high schools, which both have a 75% threshold of students on free or reduced lunch.

We want to hear from you: Share your thoughts on JCPS transportation using the form at the end of this story.

The board met Wednesday evening for a special meeting to approve a transportation plan for Jefferson County Public Schools' 2024-25 school year. It's a meeting that could be described as a game of tug-of-war, with the board split into two teams. One side wanting to take more time to listen to the community, who had concerns over how equitable the plan is, the other wanting to listen to the district's transportation department — who said it is weeks behind on creating routes for next school year.

Board Chair Corrie Shull made a motion to put the plan up to a vote around 8 p.m., but member Joe Marshall countered with his own motion to table a vote until next Tuesday's regularly scheduled board meeting over concerns that the district's student assignment plan was not considered. His motion was seconded by member Gail Logan Strange, but only three members voted in favor, and four voted against tabling the vote.

The board met Wednesday evening for a special meeting to approve a transportation plan for Jefferson County Public Schools' 2024-25 school year.

Board member Chris Kolb then made a motion to vote for the second transportation option being considered: cut transportation for all magnet and traditional schools except Central and Western high schools.

Kolb's motion was seconded by board member James Craig, and it passed in a 4-3 vote with Kolb, Linda Duncan, Craig and Sarah McIntosh voting in favor, and Marshall, Shull, and Strange voting against the plan. Officials with the transportation department stressed it needed a decision, which led to the vote approving the plan.

The district predicts it will lose fewer instructional minutes next year if it can limit transportation and cut back on routes.

"We have to equip this district for success next year, and if we don't, if we continue to kick the legs from out of our administrators and teachers who are begging us to solve this problem, all of us should go home next year," said Craig. 

The three board members who voted against the plan have major concerns about equity, saying they are limiting school choice options for students of color.

"We want to make sure every student that is part of Jefferson County Schools has access to choice, and the plan that was approved tonight undermines that," said Shull.

Many wanted the district to take more time to make sure all options were exhausted before a final vote, and give the community more and better opportunities to respond.

The long-awaited decision wasn't made lightly. Emotions ran high during the entire meeting, which lasted more than two hours. On several occasions, board members were yelling at each other. Because there was no public comment section of Wednesday's meeting, several people in the audience stood up and began arguing with the board. 

"It would be negligent, when our transportation department is telling us they need a decision, for us to get this right next year, for us to continue to sit on our hands," Craig said. "We have to fix the problem that is in front of us today.The options discussed Wednesday were laid out in a PowerPoint presentation posted just hours before the meeting.

Download PDF JCPS Transportation Options discussed during April 10, 2024 board meeting

The board reviewed four possible options for next year's transportation plan, one being the option that has been talked about extensively: to cut transportation for all magnet and traditional students. 

The next two options include exceptions to that plan. The second would cut transportation for all magnet and traditional schools except Central and Western high schools, which both have a 75% threshold of students on free or reduced lunch.

The third option would again cut transportation for all magnet and traditional schools, except elementary, middle, and high schools that have a 75% threshold of students on free or reduced lunch. That would keep transportation for six magnet or traditional schools.

Students who would still receive transportation include those attending their reside school, and other students required by state and/or federal law to receive transportation, like those who have it included in their individualized education program (IEP). 

The fourth option would keep the plan the same. If that were to happen, the board estimated it would lose between 17,000,000 to 18,000,000 instructional minutes.

JCPS has maintained that the only option to keep buses on schedule and students on time is to cut transportation for all magnet and traditional schools, which would impact more than 14,000 students. 

The board tabled a vote on a new transportation plan following roughly three hours of discussion and public comment back in March, and was expected to take it up at next week's regular board meeting on April 16.

The district's recommendation for the board was to approve eliminating transportation for magnet and traditional students. JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan has previously said the plan is the best alternative, even for minority students, among a set of hard choices.

However, hundreds of JCPS students, parents and some staff, mostly from Central High School, showed up to protest that possible decision at the March meeting.

Kolb — who called the meeting Tuesday with members Joe Marshall and Linda Duncan — said scheduling Wednesday's meeting was in an effort to listen to the district's Transportation Department, which has said it's behind on routing for the next school year because no plan has been approved yet.

Kolb said all options could also mean consolidation of start times, going from nine to three next school year.

Typically, the chairperson, who is Shull, calls special board meetings.

Shull has said he has concerns about having the special meeting on Wednesday, because scheduled for Thursday was a community meeting to review transportation plans through the Racial Equity Assessment Protocol, a system created by JCPS to assess if plans are equitable in the district.

"Unfortunately, it communicates the board is unconcerned on community voice," Shull told WDRB News on Tuesday.

Kolb said Shull communicated he would call a special meeting, but that did not happen, which is why Kolb, Marshall, and Duncan called the meeting.

During last month's meeting, board members said putting the vote on hold would give them more time to discuss and review the plan and look at information released in a recent audit of the district before voting.

But one day after that meeting, JCPS Chief Operations Officer Rob Fulk sent a letter to the board that outlined seven ways in which he believes the audit was incorrect, including references to poor transportation, work ethic among district leadership and incorrect data.

Parents react to board's decision

Dozens of parents stood outside the VanHoose Education Center during Wednesday's meeting, waiting for a decision from the board. They've been watching the board closely, feeling that even after months of debate over the future transportation plan, they've still not been heard.

After the meeting, many were not happy about the results of the board's vote. 

"The way they did and set up this meeting, it's absolutely ridiculous. And you see how people feel about you by the way they treat you. This is too important to this community to have this here," said Ben Johnson, a concerned community member.

Parents and people watching the district closely felt that even after months of future transportation plan debate many feel unheard.

There was some restrained relief among the crowd, but the quickly-called special meeting didn't allow for anyone to share their concerns.

"We just want to get there to get our kids educated. They did not hear us," said community organizer Ti'ant Wyatt. 

Many of those who have been the most outspoken are families from Central High School. Even though Wednesday's decision doesn't impact them, or students at Western High School, some are left worried about the process it took to get here.

"Feels impulsive. It was an impulsive decision. I know they had to come up with something, and I get it, but at the end of the day it's still students affected," said Central High School parent Tyeshia Halsell-Richards. "Why are you rushing things and not letting us know in advance, so it seems secret. What are you trying to do? Be sneaky?"

A district of nearly 100,000 students, and thousands of those students will not have transportation to their magnet programs next year. 

"For now, Central is safe, but it's not fair to the other magnet schools that are not receiving that. Because I know plenty of other students who go to magnet schools who are just as worried about it," said Central freshman Kira Tudor.

The board's decision met with mixed feelings: relief on one hand, but also confusion and concern, and many left wondering what future decisions there are around the corner and how quickly those will happen. 

While many parents understand that a decision had to be made, families will be left scrambling to find a solution or a new school.

What led to this transportation plan?

For the last several years, JCPS has struggled to recruit enough bus drivers, resulting in buses running delayed, up to several hours.

Last school year, the state's largest school district dealt with the same problems.

To address the busing issues, in February 2023, Superintendent Marty Pollio began to campaign a plan that would change the district start times from just two, 7:40 a.m. and 9:05 a.m., to nine times ranging from 7:40 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. Most schools would start at 7:40 a.m., 8:40 a.m., or 9:40 a.m.

Pollio said staggering times allowed bus drivers enough time to complete a route before having to begin the next.

The plan was met with opposition from several in the district. Concerns about elementary school students getting home after dark were raised, as were families’ schedules being disrupted and no longer aligning.

Despite concerns, the plan passed in March 2023.

Then in July 2023, JCPS announced bus routes would be changing.

The district contracted with Boston-based logistics company AlphaRoute to help create new routes and assign bus stops.

During a news conference over the summer, Pollio expressed confidence that students would not wait on buses more than hour, if that.

"First and foremost, after school, we had said that (for) a lot of buses, 40 minutes was the window we gave AlphaRoute," Pollio said at the time. "So that's just a part of what we have to do, because we have four or five different time periods where they're being bused or picked up on a bus. So 40 minutes is the limit which we wanted."

However, the first day of school with new start times and bus routes, proved to be disastrous for the district. The first day was plagued with bus delays in the morning and the afternoon. Some students' buses never showed up that morning, and others didn't get dropped off from school that evening until almost 10 p.m.

JCPS decided to cancel classes for the remainder of that week, and later extended that closure to include most of the following week, as it implemented a staggered return for students.

During an interview with WDRB in December 2023, Pollio said part of the problem the district faced is that from the introduction of the start time proposal, to the first day of school, JCPS lost around 100 bus drivers.

JCPS has continually blamed a nationwide bus driver shortage as part of the problem.

Now, JCPS has said to completely solve the problem around bus delays, it must cut back on routes.

In Feb. 2024, JCPS said it has 558 drivers, 563 routes, and averages 52 drivers absent daily. That leaves 57 routes uncovered daily.

The district projects by July 2024, it will have 526 drivers. Assuming it averages the same number of drivers out daily, JCPS wants to have 474 or less routes a day, to ensure routes are covered by drivers.

JCPS has presented and discussed three options to its board members since the fall of 2023.

Those three options were:

  • No longer provide buses for students who attend magnet and traditional schools, and only transport students who attend reside schools or an A5 school and students who require transportation under federal law, such as students experiencing homelessness or students in special education
  • Operate central hubs where magnet and traditional students could get bused to school from a drop-off point instead of from their neighborhoods
  • Keep the current system and its associated delays

Another option not previously discussed as in-depth, would allow magnet and traditional schools with a high percentage of students on free or reduced lunch to still receive transportation. However, JCPS said the numbers fluctuate, and would change year-to-year of what schools would meet its set threshold.

JCPS has said eliminating transportation for all magnet and traditional students would get the district to a point it could have fewer routes than drivers.

More JCPS Transportation Coverage:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.