LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Tens of thousands of students in Louisville will start school at new times in August after the Jefferson County School Board approved sweeping changes Tuesday night.
Right now, middle and high school instruction starts at 7:40 a.m., while elementary schools start at 9:05 a.m. The plan includes nine different start times ranging from 7:40 a.m. to as late as 10:40 a.m. Most schools would start at either 7:40 a.m., 8:40 a.m. or 9:40 a.m.
"I'm looking forward to the change and I'm excited about it, because it will finally allow us to get all the students to school on time for instruction," said Marcus Dobbs, executive administration of transportation for Jefferson County Public Schools.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said the new start times will help the district with a bus driver shortage and chronic absenteeism.
The district said more than 21,000 students have missed classes due to a late bus, adding up to more than 3 million minutes of instruction time lost. Students arriving or staying late can put a burden on staff at schools around the district. JCPS believes that burden will be alleviated with the new start times.
"It's like putting together a big puzzle every day, trying to figure out the best way to get the students to school to minimize the time that they miss instruction," Dobbs said.
Dobbs said instead of looking at routes, he usually looks at the number of buses. He said JCPS currently has around 660 bus drivers.
"Right now, we're making it work with about approximately 729 buses," he said. "Under the proposal that's been passed, we should be able to make everything work with about 600 buses."
Dobbs said like in years past, it will likely be sometime in July before bus schedules are finalized and families know what time they will need to be at a bus stop.
In February, Teamsters Local 783, the union that represents bus drivers, shared their support for the proposal, calling it a step in the right direction.
Since the proposal has been approved by the school board, the new start times are expected to begin in August with the 2023-24 school year.
To learn more about the proposal, click here.
Families can request to transfer to another school within the district. Again, there are nine different start times expected to go into effect next school year. Transfers are not guaranteed. JCPS said transfer requests open online May 1 and families should start hearing back from the district in July.
For information on student transfers, click here.
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