LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Transportation may be restored for some Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) students before the end of the year, but some families it's too late.
On Monday, JCPS announced it has enough drivers from Louisville's public transportation agency to possibly restore some bus routes that were cut, according to the district. Earlier this year, JCPS said it needed dozens of drivers from the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) licensed to drive school buses.
JCPS has previously said it would consider restoring routes for: Male, Manual and Butler High School students on free or reduced lunch; all students at Johnson Traditional Middle School; all students at Coleridge Taylor and Young Elementary Schools.
TARC and JCPS reached an agreement about six months ago for TARC to provide drivers who were in jeopardy of being laid off to the school district to help with the shortage of school bus drivers.
"It's been very trying," said JCPS parent Lashonda Lacy reflecting on the school year thus far.
Lacy has five students in JCPS. Three of them lost transportation due to attending traditional schools.
Despite this, Lacy initially kept her students enrolled in their programs. However after a few weeks into the school year, one son attending Butler Traditional transferred to his reside, Doss High School. Her two sons at Johnson Traditional Middle School students are still enrolled, but Lacy lost her job in effort to continue transporting them.
"I was without a job for a while. I just recently started working again, only due to my stepmother being retired now and being able to pick them up from school," Lacy said.
Because of that, learning JCPS may restore transportation for some students isn't exactly good news for Lacy.
"At this point. I mean, it does feel like a waste of time of restoring it now. We've done it almost all year," she said.
"The journey has been a little longer than we wanted to get to the number we needed," Pollio said Monday. "I'm proud and happy that we are there right now."
But before routes can be restored, the JCPS Board of Education must approve it. The next regular school board meeting is scheduled for late January.
WDRB reached out to the current sitting board members who will be tasked with voting on this decision.
On Thursday, board member James Craig told WDRB the board has not received a proposal. Craig said a proposal that guarantees on-time service will earn his support if there are changes to the current plan.
Linda Duncan echoed the same sentiment as Craig.
"I will only support what will not force delays on everyone else. My preference would be to start with restoring transportation to our magnet career academies, not free/reduced lunch to certain magnet of traditional schools," Duncan said. "I would have to see the entire proposal before saying I would or would not support a change in what we are presently doing."
Board member Tricia Lister said she is, "100% in support of restoring routes," but added the district needs continue and ramp up efforts to hire more drivers and include ways to hire bus monitors.
Board members Corrie Shull and Gail Logan Strange did not respond at the time of this writing.
If passed, JCPS transportation officials estimate it could take at least six weeks after that to ask magnet and traditional school families if they want bus service, reassign routes for bus drivers, and allow TARC drivers a chance to practice their routes.
In April, the school board voted for a plan that cut transportation to all magnet and traditional schools, with the exception of Central and Western high schools, which both have a 75% threshold of students on free or reduced lunch.
Pollio believes some students could have routes restored by this March.
"The toughest decision I had to make by far was the decision on transportation last spring," he said. "I don't think there was any other choice in the matter in what we were facing. I hated to make that decision. But I just saw the impact it was having on thousands and thousands of kids every single day."
Pollio said JCPS needs more than 700 bus drivers to restore all previous routes effectively. He said JCPS now has more than 600 bus drivers.
"We have to get students to school on time," Pollio said. "It is important we don't have students missing instructional minutes. Unfortunately in the past few years that's been millions of minutes."
Pollio also said pick-up at the end of the school day is more efficient since the start of the school year, which he said is similar to to most years.
"Our goal and what we accomplished, which was to get kids to school on time, we are doing that each and every day very effectively and efficiently right now with the bus drivers that we have," Pollio said.
Pollio said the school district's clear time, meaning when all students have been dropped off, was 5:40 p.m. last week. He said all students were home within an hour and a half after the last bell.
"We are seeing better transportation than we ever have," Pollio said. "It was a very difficult cost and decision, but we had to make sure kids got to school on time."
Related stories:
