LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said the state's largest school district has to make a change to its start times.

JCPS has proposed nine different school start times across the district, a proposal shared with teachers on Tuesday. Right now, middle and high school instruction starts at 7:40 a.m., while elementary schools start at 9:05 a.m.

Pollio discussed the proposed start times as Westport Middle School on Wednesday. JCPS said students at the middle school sometimes arrive up to two hours late due to a bus driver shortage.

"This is a step we have to take, because doing the same thing is not an option for us," Pollio said. "We've had two start times for 50 years, there are very few if any other districts like us in the nation that only have two start times."

The district hopes new start times will solve chronic absenteeism, and reduce the number of bus routes which could also cut down on delays as it deals with bus driver shortages. The school district educates around 96,000 students annually.

Pollio said some students are in school buildings from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and nearly 20,000 students have missed instructional time this school year because of busing shortages.

"This is unfair to the students, it's unfair to the staff," Pollio said. "Doing the same thing next year is not an option for us."

Pollio predicted JCPS would demand around 800 bus routes next year, if the school district continues with its current plan. If the change in school start time was approved, those bus routes would be reduced to around 600.

JCPS has around 650 bus drivers, so the new plan could potentially eliminate double and triple routes for bus drivers, if the school district can retain those drivers. Pollio said students would arrive on average of 14 minutes before the start of instruction, and leave their school within 14 minutes of the end of their day with the new plan. Currently, some students wait hours after the end of a school day for buses to return for additional routes to take them home.

"This is the answer for our transportation issue, this solves the problem," Pollio said. "We're in a transportation crisis."

Made with Flourish

Pollio said the new plan would decrease students average time of the bus from 29 minutes to 27 minutes. The new plan would decrease the number of bus routes, but Pollio said the "vast majority" of students would be walking less than a quarter mile to bus stops.

"The more bus stops you have, the longer it is going to take to complete routes," Pollio said. "Right now, we have almost door to door service."

The proposal also would change a push back start times at some middle and high schools by an hour. Pollio said moving the start time back an hour would support some of the "highest need schools" in the district.

"Research is clear, this is not healthy for our students," Pollio said. "Early start time negatively impacts school attendance."

Pollio said 45% of the school district's student population in middle and high schools are "chronically" absent, missing 18 or more school days a year. He said around 30,000 students would have their school start time pushed back an hour with the new plan.

The school district plans to get feedback from parents and students, along with hosting town hall sessions. Pollio hopes the school board can vote on the plan in March.

Pollio has previously said JCPS is behind the curve, when it comes to start times. 

"I know change is hard, this change should have been done 15 or 20 years ago," Pollio said. 

If the JCPS Board of Education votes to approve the proposal, the new times would start next school year. No school would start later than 9:40 a.m.

Pollio admitted the new plan would be challenging to implement.

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