LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Amanda McGrath, who teaches fifth grade at Bowen Elementary School, started Wednesday's opening of the 2022-23 school year at the Blankenbaker bus compound, where she climbed behind the steering wheel of a school bus and picked up kids on her way to work.
When the final bell rings on the first day of classes, her day won't end. She'll be dropping off Bowen Elementary students on the way back to the compound and, later, home.
McGrath added school bus driving to her daily routine during school years in November, when she earned her commercial driver's license after the district offered employees their regular hourly pay rates to drive buses.
"It's a great extra job, and I get to see kid first thing in the morning. They're always excited to see me," McGrath said Wednesday after finishing her morning bus run. "… It's been neat to drive field trips and all of that. I know it sounds weird, but I do enjoy it."
Students and families get information outside Indian Trail Elementary on the first day of classes for the 2022-23 school year Aug. 10, 2022.
About 700 Bowen Elementary students were among more than 95,000 Jefferson County Public Schools students who entered classrooms Wednesday for the start of the 2022-23 school year, some in new schools and some for the first time ever. JCPS said Wednesday evening that the first day enrollment count was 86,449 students, but that the number was "very tentative as 21 schools had not verified their information" when the report was pulled.
"This count includes Pathfinder numbers but does not include special schools such as hospitals, state agency schools, or early childhood enrollments," the district said in a statement. "This information is on par with last year's first day enrollment count."
Those at Indian Trail Elementary School got their first day of instruction inside the brand new $16.5 million, 82,000-square-foot facility when doors opened Wednesday.
Karter Johnson is entering second grade the Indian Trail Elementary. After a year of homeschools, she's looking forward to meeting new teachers, learning math and, above all else, having fun.
"I know a lot of numbers, and I'm really good at it," Karter said Wednesday.
Kimberlee Sickles has a daughter in third grade and a stepson in fifth grade at the school. Another son, a high school freshman, also attended Indian Trail Elementary. There's "no comparison" between the former school and the brand new building her children walked inside Wednesday.
"This school is so beautiful, and it has so many opportunities for these kids, and they really do deserve it," Sickles said. "… The gym is like a high school gym. It's almost like a high school elementary school."
An Indian Trail Elementary student gets help with her mask on the first day of the 2022-23 school year Aug. 10, 2022.
Contrast that with Wilkerson Elementary School, which is temporarily housed inside a former school building it is replacing soon. JCPS delayed opening the new $17 million, 82,532-square-foot Wilkerson Elementary building after it twice failed recent building inspections, primarily because of a leaky roof.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio visited Wilkerson Elementary, now at the former Watson Lane Elementary School site, during his round of school visits Wednesday. He planned to get guidance from Louisville Metro building inspectors on a timeline to get a certificate of occupancy so the district can open the new $17 million school.
"We've told the staff here that at least these three days and probably two more full weeks and then we'll hopefully move in after that time," Pollio told WDRB News.
Some students in Justin Young's fifth grade glass remain skeptical of the project. One girl said she knew the new school wouldn't be complete in time for the 2022-23 school year.
"You guys will love it," Pollio told the class. "… I will come back on the first day we're in the school, and I'm going to stop by and see you guys."
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio gives students in Justin Young's fifth grade class an update on the opening of the new Wilkerson Elementary on the first day of classes for the 2022-23 school year Aug. 10, 2022.
Lisa Phillips, who teaches fourth grade at Wilkerson, said the prospect of packing up her classroom to move to the new Wilkerson Elementary building in a few weeks is "unusual," but teachers at the school have come together as a team through the moving process.
"It's been wonderful getting to know them all," Phillips said Wednesday. "We've all been put in the same situation, so we all have some empathy for each other."
She and Jacqueline Brochu, who teaches third grade, came from Watson Lane Elementary after it closed and combined with Wilkerson Elementary at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Brochu said returning to the former Watson Lane Elementary building to start the 2022-23 school year is "kind of bittersweet."
"I'm excited to be back in the building that I'm familiar with, but I'm very excited to be moved to the new building, so it's kind of a different change for me," Brochu said. "But it still seems like home, and now we've got extra people to make it even more of a home for us."
Bowen Elementary Principal Lisa Wathen handed bags of treats to bus drivers and directed kids into the school as they deboarded.
"The first day of school is the best every single year," she said. "The kids are so excited. The staff is excited. We spend weeks getting ready, and so then on this day nobody goes to bed early. Everybody wakes up super early, and we're just ready to greet the kids."
Bowen Elementary students enter on a red carpet for the start of the 2022-23 school year Aug. 10, 2022.
This year marks the fourth school year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as students and staff must wear masks for at least the first few days because local coronavirus caseloads and hospitalization put Jefferson County in the "red" under U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metrics.
Pollio said he had heard of no issues regarding mask enforcement, which has become a divisive issue in Kentucky's largest school district with face coverings required until local COVID-19 metrics improve. JCPS is one of eight large school districts across the U.S. with a mandatory masking policy in place as of Wednesday, according to data aggregator Burbio.
Nearly every classroom he visited early Wednesday was complying with the district's mask mandate, he said.
"There may have been a few redirects where kids have to just correct it," Pollio said.
At Bowen Elementary, the school hosted parents and families for an open house to meet their children's teachers for the first time during the pandemic, Wathen said.
"The energy that was in our building on Monday night was insane. It was so awesome," she said. "Our families, some of them haven't been in our building ever. Our second grade kids, their parents haven't been in for kindergarten or first."
Beyond familiar COVID-19 protocols returning until local COVID-19 data improves, Kentucky's largest school district joins other across the U.S. and the state in working to fill numerous classroom and bus driver vacancies.
Pollio has said he expected every classroom in the district would have a certified teacher leading instruction when the 2022-23 school year began Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, he said fewer than 100 classrooms have certified teaching vacancies. The district has deployed those with teaching certifications, such as district resource teachers and implementation coaches, to fill classroom vacancies in 12-week rotations.
JCPS will continue to hire new certified teachers to fill openings, but "there's going to end up being teacher vacancies," he said.
"There's no doubt about it," Pollio said. "We're not going to hire every teacher vacancy, and we're going to have to do things throughout the year like have resource teachers cover classrooms. That's just a reality we'll have to face this year, but it is lower than it's been at any point."
Some teachers shared with WDRB they helped cover some classes without teachers and will continue to do so.
Kennita Ballard, a language arts teacher at Grace James Academy, said some teachers including herself will teach a class during one of their two planning periods. But she is optimistic about the teamwork to teach students.
"It's going to require that consistency of flexibility, and understanding and empathy one each other. Those are things that have to be constant," Ballard said.
The district is also working to cover bus routes, and officials have told families to expect "significant delays" in bus service during the opening days of the 2022-23 school year. JCPS has about 70 uncovered bus routes to start the school year as dozens of prospective bus drivers move through the hiring process.
Olmsted Academy North students enter school for the first day of the 2022-23 school year Aug. 10, 2022.
"Unfortunately, the process to hire a new driver is a little lengthy," Marcus Dobbs, the district's executive administrator of transportation, said Tuesday. "It takes a little while from the time a driver actually puts in their application with all the steps and everything they must go through. It takes about a month and a half to get a driver trained."
"Our two options that we have when we're short drivers are to cancel routes completely or to pick kids up late," Pollio said. "Many districts have chosen to cancel routes and just tell parents, 'I'm sorry, we can't transport you to school.' We don't want to do that here in JCPS."
The district launched an online dashboard detailing expected bus route delays, with some anticipated to last at least an hour. The dashboard will be updated weekly on Saturday afternoons.
Parent Adrienne Adams was aware of the delays her 2nd grade son may have to deal with on the bus. Adams said she was notified the delay would be 30 minutes. However she said it ended up being almost an hour and a half.
"I decided to go ahead and just run him to school so I did and got in the car and ran him down the road to school," Adams said. "It's not going to be fixed overnight, I don't know how long it's going to take but it's definitely worse than last year."
"The first day is always going to have some delays, but I've been pleased with what I've seen so far," Pollio said.
In an update Wednesday evening, a JCPS spokesperson said "a majority" of bus riders were home by 6:30 p.m., with all bus riders home by 7:30 p.m.
This story may be updated.
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