JCPS considering ways to decrease bus routes to minimize delays next school year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) plans to move forward with its current approach as transportation remains an issue for students.

Some families are still facing hours long delays as their children ride buses to and from school. JCPS officials have said their goal is to have all students dropped off after school by 6:30 p.m., but the average time from Oct. 9 to Nov. 22 was 7 p.m.

When Cassie Kidd gets a text that her daughter's bus is going to be three hours late, it puts an unexpected burden on her.

"It's upsetting because my daughter is just now starting to like school," Kidd said. "I don't have transportation to take her to school or pick her up because I don't have a car."

Kidd's daughter attends Fairdale High School for its emergency services magnet program instead of going to her neighborhood school, Iroquois. Eliminating transportation for students like Kidd is what JCPS is considering to address its transportation problems.

Currently, out of the nearly 65,000 students JCPS transports, nearly 16,000 students attend magnet or traditional schools.

"We are going to bring you a recommendation, we do want these to be out there in the community," JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said.

Decisions on who gets to ride the bus next school year won't come until February, Pollio said. Cutting transportation for magnet or traditional school students is on the table. JCPS Interim Chief Operations Office Dr. Rob Fulk estimated eliminating all magnet and traditional school bus offerings would cut around 100 routes. 

The school district will also consider other options that cut bus routes like transporting only free and reduced lunch students to magnet and traditional schools or offer a busing hub for magnet students. 

One thing for sure is JCPS will not return to two start times. Middle school and high school instruction previously started at 7:40 a.m., while elementary schools started at 9:05 a.m. The new plan adopted this year includes nine different start times ranging from 7:40 a.m. to as late as 10:40 a.m.

"We still would have moved forward with the bell change time, the start times because with right now it would be a ten times disaster of what we have right now," Pollio said.

Fulk said the district is also looking into offering stipends to high school student families, but that wouldn't help all families like the Kidds.

"Made a decision that if my child cannot go to Fairdale and can't get a bus or anything like that, she will be homeschooled," Kidd said.

Almost halfway through the school year, JCPS continues to struggle with late buses and a shortage of bus drivers. Amid the ongoing driver shortage, the district is down nearly half of the 1,080 bus drivers it had in 2015. There are currently just 574, which doesn't account for those who call out, covering 568 routes. Fulk said 11 new drivers passed their CDL test and started this week.

JCPS said an average of 51 drivers call out sick each day, most frequently on Mondays and Fridays.

Fulk also said when it comes to inclement weather, there will no longer be delays of two hours. If inclement weather is an impact, it will either be a traditional snow day or virtual (NTI) learning day.

The district also wants to create a "routing team" and dedicate more staff to deal with bus routes and address problems. Fulk said it would be a team of six people who would help with routing.

"Today we subtracted five runs off of our list through consolidating other runs but at this point we will continue to work that but there is no more low-hanging fruit that can be picked to solve this for this year," Fulk said.

District leadership has already started meeting with several transportation technology companies, looking for solutions to the issues in the years to come. This comes as the U.S. Attorney's Office also looks into the district's bus delays. WDRB News obtained 20 pages of emails including questions U.S. Attorneys asked JCPS. Federal officials asked JCPS about bus level and school level data districtwide for late buses, before and after fall break, which went from Oct. 3-6.

As for further progress made since Oct. 2, Fulk added communication with the bus union and President John Stovall is "strong." He also said there is constant communication with schools over transportation.

The application period for all schools opened in November and closes on Dec. 22. But one timing issue: the district is still working on bus issues and hasn't decided if buses will continue for magnet school students next year.

Families interested in attending magnet schools or programs shave expressed frustration because they don't know if their student will be offered transportation or not. Pollio said communication will be sent out to families later this week on that issue. 

"We are not guaranteeing any transportation other than reside schools, special ed. schools, and A5," Pollio said. "That doesn't mean we're not doing it, that is your decision in the end but we do want families to know that is a possibility before they complete their application process on Dec. 22."

Typically students who apply to attend a magnet school find out if they were accepted in April. Students who have been accepted can then choose to enroll or decline at that time.

JCPS hopes to have a decision made on transportation before then, to allow families time to make arrangements and final decisions.

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