LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- More than two months of chaotic transportation to and from Louisville public schools came to a head this week when nearly 150 bus drivers called out sick, canceling more than 100 routes.
The call-out by drivers was part of an organized effort to take a stand against what many drivers said is a lack of student discipline and long bus routes. There are regular reports of fights aboard buses, causing headaches for drivers and students and leaving parents concerned.
Teamsters Local 783 President John Stovall, who represents JCPS bus drivers, said he's working with the district and the Jefferson County School Board to improve conditions for drivers. But he said many drivers are getting fed up, citing a number of reasons why they're seeing so many fights lately.
"A lot of it is outside activities," Stovall said. "They live in a certain neighborhood (or) they live over there. 'I heard you say this about my girlfriend or boyfriend.' Just childish stuff."
A fight Aug. 18 on a bus involving Stuart Academy students started with some name-calling, parents said. In September, an Eastern High School student and an adult were shot in Louisville's Russell neighborhood after police said a fight started on a JCPS bus and continued when they got off.
A few days later, a fight broke out on a bus with Atherton High School students on board. Students were yelling at each other, one threw a punch, and one student was left with a bruise to the forehead.
Another fight on a Westport Middle School bus in October in St. Matthews left parents like Stephanie Hair concerned with her child on that bus.
"I guess somebody was smoking weed on the bus, and two kids got into a fight," she said. "After the fight was broken up, one kid jumped out of the back of the bus."
That led to family members showing up and fighting near the bus. Two men were ultimately charged with disorderly conduct, assault of a police officer, menacing and resisting arrest.
"It's just student behavior," Stovall said. "Regardless of where you are from, you've got to be held accountable."
But how often are students punished in cases like these? In the 2021-22 school years, JCPS gave out 12,301 bus referrals. For the last school year, there were 14,821 bus referrals.
Data shows the discipline the district uses the most is a student conference, then a full bus suspension.
"Once the district decides enough is enough and they enforce these codes of conduct and make them held accountable, it will change," Stovall said.
Stovall gave school board members a list of schools that drivers are concerned about.
"There's 12 of them, and they're not happy," he said. "They go there and expect the principals to help them. Some schools say, 'Hey man, I've had them since 7 o'clock. It's your turn. Get them out of here.'"
Data for the first 31 days of school through Fall Break shows 2,103 bus referrals across the district. The three schools with the highest number of referrals:
- Stuart Academy: 97
- Westport Middle School: 75
- Kammerer Middle School: 65
For Stuart, punishment included 55 full bus suspensions and 29 one-way bus suspensions. According to the student handbook, principals can request students be suspended from the bus anywhere from six to 20 days.
"In extreme circumstances, bus suspensions can go beyond 20 days," Stovall said. "If the district would choose to enforce the student discipline code, and, supposedly, there's a new one out. I don't know all the details, where they can suspend them. If they start doing that, that may help alleviate some of this stuff."
JCPS said removing a student from the bus permanently is an option, and it'd then be the students and their family's responsibility to find a way to school.
Carolyn Callahan, chief of communications for JCPS, said they're listening to complaints from drivers. A big change in the works deals with the referral process if a student misbehaves on a bus, which will move from a paper system — where the bus driver hands off a note to the compound coordinator who then sorts through those and sends them to school administration — to an online system, getting straight to the school in real-time.
"This will allow drivers to directly communicate concerns with schools and see the administrative response to those referrals," Callahan said.
JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said referrals doesn't necessarily correspond to incidents. So each referral doesn't represent a fight on a bus.
"Referrals is the number of write-ups by bus drivers regarding student behavior," Hebert said. "So if four kids are involved in an incident on a bus, there would be four referrals. And one student could have multiple referrals on the same bus ride for different behavior. For instance, if they are using profanity as well as throwing items, the driver could send in two referrals on the same student."
The district said the interim chief operations officer has met with the union and drivers to hear from them about what’s working and what's not.
Jefferson County Public Schools Bus
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