LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools' superintendent hosted his sixth State of the District address highlighting its improvements and challenges in recent years.

Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio spoke to hundreds of people, including students, educators and elected officials at The Olmsted on Frankfort Avenue on Tuesday. 

The address came as Jefferson County Board of Education weighs its options for transportation next school year as it looks for a solution to issues that have plagued Louisville's public school system since the start of this school year.

The new system had a disastrous rollout in August when delays forced the cancellation of six days of school. Things have improved since then, but the new data sheds light on the issues schools continue to grapple with each day. JCPS students lost nearly four million minutes of instructional time because of bus delays in the October-December period of 2023, nearly four times the instructional time lost during the same period in 2022, according to a WDRB News analysis of data obtained in a public records request.

"I was absolutely punched in the mouth on this, I learned a lot from that and some of the challenges that we face," Pollio said. "That has been a real learning experience for me."

Pollio said JCPS had more than 950 bus drivers a decade ago. The state's largest school district now has 558 drivers for 563 routes. On top of that, 52 drivers are absent daily on average, leaving the district with 506 drivers available daily. 

"There aren't easy solutions," said Pollio, who is in his seventh year as JCPS superintendent. "Staffing shortages in this nation are immense."

He said the school district will have to increase drivers or decrease routes. 

"It is not a paradigm that can continue. We are going to have to make tough choices," Pollio said. "None of those choices have great answers and have unintended consequences that come with them. We are going to have to make decisions."

Beyond the busing issue, Pollio believes the school district is on the right path.

"Despite the challenges we face, especially this year, I am absolutely more excited and enthused about what is happening inside our schools every single day," Pollio said. "We have amazing things going on in our schools right now and I want to highlight that."

He credited JCPS' School Choice Plan as giving students and families more educational options. JCPS' board unanimously passed the changes to the district's student assignment plan in June 2022 that established the "choice zone," an area comprised of west Louisville and the central business district. Historically, students in the "choice zone" were assigned to schools in other parts of the county.

Pollio said nearly 80% of elementary and middle school students in the "choice zone" decided to stay close to home, along with about 40% of high school students.

"It clearly shows that's what the families have wanted," Pollio said. "I would be hard-pressed to find in district in America that has made more changes, who has changed the foundation of a district like Jefferson County Public Schools has in the past five years."

Pollio said JCPS will continue to invest in education in its "choice zone."

"We don't have enough schools in that area," Pollio said. "Building schools in west Louisville has been neglected for 50 to 60 years. In order to change that, we have to invest into that area."

He said JCPS has invested in District 6 more than all other areas combined since 2017. JCPS opened Perry Elementary and Dr. J Blaine Hudson Middle School last August. The last JCPS facility built in Louisville's west end was Foster Elementary School in 2000.

"Students who have the least amount of resources in their home need to have the most amount of resources in their school," Pollio said.

Teachers and administrators in "choice zone" schools also receive an additional stipend for working in its "choice zone" schools, in an effort to prevent high staff turnover.

Earlier this month, a study from three leading American research universities showed JCPS is recovering from learning loss brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report shows JCPS is among the fastest-growing district is in the states with math and reading recovery rates higher than the Kentucky average and its reading average among the best in the country. None of those numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels — as the numbers above illustrate — but district leaders are celebrating the upward trend.

JCPS credits its extended learning time beyond classroom hours in contributing to the improvement.

Nearly 10,000 kids were part of the district's summer programming that includes classes and activities. JCPS said the programs are provided opportunities for students to gain knowledge and prevent a learning loss known as "summer slide." The programs supported skills in reading and math at 18 schools and 57 community sites.

"They need to be in front of a teacher more, we need to get them to school and make sure we give them additional learning time," Pollio said.

Last fall, Kentucky Department of Education released its comprehensive state and test score data. In its assessment results for elementary school, 39% of students scored proficient in reading, and 32% scored proficient or distinguished in math.  Around 2/3 of JCPS elementary school students scored below proficient in reading and math. Elementary school students' proficient and distinguished scores in reading and math both improved compared to the previous school year.

In middle school, 34% of students scored proficient or distinguished in reading, and 23% scored proficient or distinguished in math. More than 3/4 of middle school students scored below proficient in math, and just less than 3/4 of students scored below proficient in reading.

Reading scores slightly improved in proficient or distinguished for middle school students, compared to last year. Proficient or distinguished scores in math decreased, compared to last year.

For high school, 37% of students scored proficient or distinguished in reading and 25% of students scored proficient or distinguished in math. Nearly half of JCPS high school students scored at novice, the lowest level, for math. More than half of JCPS high school students scored below proficient in reading.

Pollio said this year, the school district has focused on teaching literacy cohesively throughout schools. All students learn the same curriculum in the same way, regardless of school, as part of the district's educational alignment strategy.

"We wanted to make sure we built background knowledge in kids," Pollio said. "It's about having the background knowledge to make sure they're reading efficiently and effectively."

JCPS is also working streamline its math curriculum for next school year. 

Pollio also described the rapid growth in its multilingual learners. The superintendent said seven years ago, the district had about 10,000 multilingual learners. It is now up to 19,000 and those students are accounted for in state proficiency exams. 

"One out of every five students in JCPS are multilingual learners, they clearly bring to us something additional to our schools that our principals and district love," Pollio said. "But they also need additional supports... most of them come with very little English language  acquisition at all and yet within 24 months we put them on a state test and say you need to be proficient." 

Pollio also addressed school safety. In the 2019-2020 school year, LMPD pulled its officers working in schools and the board did not approve contracts with other law enforcement agencies.

"We went through some difficult times about how we felt as a community, as a board and management on how we should proceed with school safety," Pollio said. "We got it right."

The superintendent said the district has made progress in recent years on its efforts around keeping students safe.

In early 2022, JCPS passed a new plan that placed safety administrators, unarmed individuals to supervise inside school buildings, in every middle and high school. School safety officers, armed and sworn-officers, would patrol multiple schools by car.

A WDRB investigation showed the district's first year of implementation in 2022-2023, had a slow roll out. The district struggled to fill its school safety officer positions and was not producing required reports.

In its second year, the district said it is making progress in hiring officers, and restructured its police and security team.

Pollio also criticized state officials for attacking JCPS, without having all the facts.

Citing numerous audits in previous years, Pollio shared skepticism about an audit by the state.

"I am not afraid of any audit as I haven't been afraid of any other audits as long as they are done fairly, equitably and done without a pre-determined decision to be made, which I have to highly question," Pollio said. 

The district previously provided a list of audits and reviews that have been conducted since Pollio became superintendent. In 2017, the Kentucky Department of Education conducted an initial management audit. In 2018, the district had two reviews: Council of the Great City Schools Organizational Review of Central Office and KDE's Consolidated Monitoring Report. In 2019, the district underwent an AdvancED Performance Accreditation and Engagement Review. In 2020, the KDE conducted a final management audit, and in 2023, KDE conducted a district diagnostic review.

"What I would encourage the legislature to do is do an analysis of all of these audits that we have had over the past eight years," Pollio said. "Every single one of them has identified the things we are doing so well."

Last week, Kentucky lawmakers filed a bill that will look into splitting up JCPS. The bill was introduced and has support from the state's Republican lawmakers. 

The bill would create the Efficient and Effective School District Governance Task Force and is targeted at school districts with enrollment greater than 75,000 students, which only qualifies JCPS in the state of Kentucky.

The task force would assess a number of items, including: previous audits or performance plans, current district governance and administration models, testimony from county stakeholders, and potential impacts on funding and other items if district is split.

Pollio pointed out the district has undergone six external audits since 2017.

"It will be the most damaging decision made to this community in many years," Pollio said. "Splitting up the district is not the answer."

JCPS has a budget of around $1.8 billion and educates 98,000 students. Pollio said splitting of the school district would mean teachers would be paid less.

"Our budget is not out of line compared to any other district in Kentucky," Pollio said. 

The school district reported JCPS spends less per student on central office administration than any other Kentucky school district, stating JCPS spends $100 per student, compared to $225 in Fayette County and $202 in Bullitt County.

The State of the District is sponsored by corporate partners, and doubles as a fundraiser for the district’s scholarship foundation. This year’s event raised $42,000 for the foundation.

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