Louisville community coming up with solutions to get students to class on time next school year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thousands of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) students won't be able to ride a bus next school year.

But community activists, parents and former JCPS bus drivers are coming up with plans to get students to class on time.

Emotions are running high as families plan for next school year after the district cut transportation for most magnet and traditional students.

"I'm concerned because it's not fair across the board," JCPS parent Charlie Bell said. "I actually ran for school board to try to, so we wouldn't get to this point."

Now, Bell's daughter won't be able to ride the bus to Male High School next year.

"It's very frustrating," Bell said. "And so instead of getting frustrated and emotional and protesting and those things about it, we came up with a solution."

A carpool group was created on Facebook as an alternative to the JCPS busing dilemma.

"It was a no brainer to post our carpool situation," Bell said.

Students who attend Central and Western High Schools will still be able to ride the bus. That's because more than 75% of their students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

"We want to make sure that kids who are already dealing with the effects of this equity gap are not left out to dry with the transportation issue as well," Pastor Timothy Findley, with the Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center, said.

Findley's team plans on using two 15-passenger vans to transport students to and from the Russell and Newburg neighborhoods of the city.

"Our greatest goal is to make sure that kids are taken care of," Findley said.

Jalon Edwards and Carrington Spalding have both driven school buses for JCPS.

They recently started 'The Cool Carpool' on Instagram. They're charging $75 a week, per student, to get kids to and from school.

"People are looking for transportation right now," they said.

The community-based solutions are an attempt to provide guaranteed transportation for all JCPS students.

"This is just a minuet problem of all the things that are going on but we have to get our kids to school," Bell said. "With us being so centrally located, it is imperative that our school system is good to attract other people for economic development."

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