JCPS focused on back-to-school with full bus driver staff, facility upgrades

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools is "locked in and ready," as it heads back to class Thursday.

That was the message from new JCPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood on Tuesday, as the district prepared to welcome back nearly 100,000 students to its 165 schools.

JCPS has been working diligently to hire bus drivers for the upcoming school year. Speaking at Jacob Elementary, Yearwood said the district now has more than enough bus drivers to cover all routes on the first day.

"I am confident, just like last year. We're getting more than 40,000 bus-riding students to and from school safely and in a timely manner. Very, very important," he said.

School officials stopped short of saying how many more drivers they're looking to hire. The drivers have spent the last two weeks practicing the bus routes.

"Please give grace to drivers on the road," said JCPS Chief Operating Officer Dr. Rob Fulk. [The roads] will be congested and clogged as everyone gets back into a routine. There will be a little bit of an adaption period for traffic patterns around schools."

JCPS has decided to renew its partnership with TARC to help students get to and from school. This is the second year TARC drivers and JCPS are teaming up.

It began last school year when the district faced a severe driver shortage and TARC drivers faced potential layoffs.

TARC agreed to provide up to 25 drivers this year as long as the agency has the resources to fully staff city bus routes.

Last year 70 TARC drivers helped out.

Vaccinations

Another topic that is front of mind for school leaders is vaccinations. They are especially concerned after there have been two confirmed measles cases in Jefferson County.

According to Eva Stone, the JCPS Manager of Health Services, roughly 9,100 students in the district are not up to date with immunizations. Stone says that is an improvement from a few years ago. Four years ago, there were 20,000 kids who were not vaccinated.

"There's been some incredible work done in this area," said Stone. "Part of that is having access to state vaccination records, and of course, making vaccines accessible is key."

Still, the district continues to make it a priority to get more families and kids vaccinated. JCPS is working closely with community partners to make sure healthcare needs are met and easily accessible.

Throughout the year there have been clinics at various schools for physicals and immunizations.

District health officials met to prioritize children who have the greatest need for vaccinations or are severely behind on their shots.

Families can opt out of certain vaccines because of medical and religious reasons but health officials say there have not been very many of those exemptions.

Last year more than 6,000 vaccines were given throughout the school year.

School improvements

Over the summer, JCPS has been working on improvements to the schools. One of those schools on the list is Liberty High School.

A viewer sent WDRB photos and expressed concern about the condition of the school and the boarded-up windows.

The JCPS Chief Operating Officer says the district is in the process of replacing the windows that the school is still safe for students to attend on the first day of class on Thursday.

Other district upgrades include repairing roofs and putting down new payment.

There will also be new additions to the school meal options and the district plans to host free English classes to help bridge the communication gap with families who are learning English as a second language. They say the population of multilingual students is growing across the district.

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