LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) has canceled classes for students on Monday, Aug. 14 and Tuesday, Aug. 15 as it attempts to fix major transportation issues.

JCPS spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan said in an email Saturday that Tuesday will be a work day for all JCPS staff.

"We hope to have students back in class sometime next week, and will communicate that information to families and staff by Monday evening," Callahan said in an email.

Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said in a statement sent to families that they need more time to "complete the necessary short term adjustments to our transportation system."

Pollio believes JCPS will have a remedy for the short term but they know they need more permanent adjustments.

"We know we have work to do to regain your trust and instill confidence in the reliability of our transportation services," Pollio said in a statement. "We are fully committed to providing safe and dependable transportation for our students in both the short and long term."

JCPS recently started using a program developed by a firm called AlphaRoute out of Massachusetts to help with planning routes and assigning bus stop locations. The program — developed by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — uses artificial intelligence to generate the routes with the intent of reducing the number of routes. JCPS had 730 routes last year, and that was cut to 600 beginning this year.

Callahan told WDRB Saturday that AlphaRoute got into town Saturday morning and was at the time working with JCPS. They also spoke with bus drivers to hear their thoughts on the issues.

She said JCPS is reviewing the longer routes that have 25 or more stops in them and seeing if they can reduce that for drivers or split up the routes.

"That is one of the things that we're doing now because we did hear from bus drivers who said it was unrealistic for me to be able to get from point A to point B with the number of stops in that allotted time," Callahan said.

There are also plans to release more information over the weekend about possible meal sites, immunization clinics and physical clinics on the off days for students and families.

"While we do have these days off the school, we can still be helping families and getting some things done," Callahan said.

Callahan also said that JCPS has received zero resignations from bus drivers.

Wednesday, Aug. 9, was the first day of school for JCPS students. However, some students didn't get home until almost 10 p.m. amid new bus routes and school start times.

Many JCPS parents never thought their kid would miss four instructional days within the beginning of the school year.

"This absolutely blows my mind," Cole Petrusky, a JCPS parent, said. "And I've never seen anything like this."

"It's just not OK," Kristina Petrusky, a JCPS parent, said. "JCPS needs to do better."

The Petrusky's, along with thousands of other parents, won't be sending their kids to school for at least the first two days next week.

"I personally believe that it's OK for them to cancel school at this point, to help get to the bottom of what the actual issues are and to make it better so that the kids don't have to suffer," Cole Petrusky said.

"I worry that our kids are going to be in a way punished for it at the end of the year because they're gonna have to make these days up and that's not fair to them because this wasn't their fault. It was the fault of the board," Kristina Petrusky said.

"We know that this was as a lot of people have said a disaster. This was a failure. And we absolutely recognize parents have every right to be angry and stressed. The anxiety that folks felt," Callahan said.

Elizabeth Edsall said her youngest has a disability which limits his speech and he didn't get home from the first day of school until 8:30 p.m.

"I ended up calling the police at 8 o'clock and had two officers out looking for my son," she said. "Regardless if school was not cancelled, my youngest was not going. He was not going."

Several parents told WDRB they are looking into other schooling options.

The full letter sent home to parents by Pollio can be read below:

August 12, 2023

Dear JCPS families,

"First and foremost, I want to again express my apologies for the anxiety, anger, fear, and confusion many of you felt because of the failure of our transportation plan on the first day of school. As I have said, what happened Wednesday is unacceptable and the blame is on me and my team.

While we have been working on both short and long-term changes to ensure the safety and reliability of our bus services, we need more time to complete the necessary short term adjustments to our transportation system. As a result, all JCPS schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday, August 14 and 15, in order for us to effectively address the challenges. We hope to have students back at school mid-week but will communicate an official plan to you by Monday evening.

We understand the disruption these closures may cause to your daily routines, and we are truly sorry for the inconvenience. Our primary concern is the safety and welfare of our students.

Our team is working tirelessly to address the issues that arose during the failure and find and implement solutions. While we believe we will have a remedy for many of our issues in the short term, the reality is that we will need more permanent adjustments as well. We will be working hand-in-hand with our bus drivers, transportation officials and families to more fully understand and complete the changes necessary in the next several weeks.

We know we have work to do to regain your trust and instill confidence in the reliability of our transportation services. We are fully committed to providing safe and dependable transportation for our students in both the short and long term.

We are confident we can overcome the current challenges and build a stronger transportation system for all our JCPS families."

Sincerely,

Dr. Marty Pollio

Superintendent

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