LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- When Jefferson County Public Schools upended school schedules last year, Superintendent Marty Pollio said there would be a clear payoff for the inconveniences families and teachers would endure: Fewer students would miss time in the classroom because of bus delays.
"These nine start times completely solve our issues around transportation. I can't say that clearly enough," Pollio said when presenting the plan in February 2023. "This ensures that every student is picked up. This plan actually ensures a shorter time on the bus for our students."
Yet, after the district moved from only two start times to nine staggered throughout the morning and redrew its bus routes, the delays did not improve. In fact, they got much worse.
JCPS students lost nearly 4 million minutes of instructional time because of bus delays in the October-December period of 2023, nearly four times the instructional time lost during the same period in 2022, according to a WDRB News analysis of data obtained in a public records request.
Bus delays led to an average of 77,015 minutes of instructional time lost per school day across the district in the three-month period, up from 22,416 minutes the year before.
In an interview, Pollio did not dispute WDRB's findings but said delays would be far worse today had JCPS not adopted the staggered school times and redesigned bus routes.
Pollio said his prediction that the new system would "completely solve" transportation problems assumed the district would retain the same number of bus drivers, when, in fact, it continued to lose them.
"Saying this plan didn't work, it's not necessarily the truth, because, if we had not gone to this plan, we would be significantly underwater where we would not be providing — we would be canceling — 200 routes a day," Pollio said. "This is not just getting kids late to school. There would be no transportation for these students.
"If I had to do all over again, I would have been clear about, 'As long as we keep the same amount of bus drivers that we have right now, this will solve our issues.' And if we did have 675 bus drivers right now, we would not have these issues."
In fact, JCPS has about 558 bus drivers currently, he said.
Last year, there were only two school start times. Middle school and high schools started at 7:40 a.m., while elementary schools started at 9:05 a.m. Under the new plan, start times range from 7:40 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.
The new system had a disastrous rollout in August when delays forced the cancellation of six days of school. Things have improved since then, but the new data sheds light on the issues schools continue to grapple with each day.
JCPS parents regularly receive text messages notifying them of bus delays. One such message last month said a bus from Atherton High School would be delayed "approximately 3.5 hours."
Hard choice ahead, Pollio says
Anesha Malone, whose child goes to Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary School, is among many JCPS parents who are frustrated by the results. Malone said the change has affected her wallet, too.
"I turned my child from a bus-rider to a walker because of it," Malone said. "I had to work around the schedule of the new hours at school. ... It cut me down to fewer hours at work versus getting my eight hours. I had to cut down to, like, five."
WDRB paired the bus delay data with enrollment figures to determine which schools have lost the most instructional time on a per-student basis this school year.
Myzeek Middle School in Louisville's Smoketown neighborhood saw the biggest impact in the October-December period, losing almost five additional minutes per student per school day from bus delays.
One silver lining, Pollio said in the interview, is that while more students are dealing with bus delays, the delays are not as severe as they were in 2022.
"If one bus was late to school (last school year), and maybe it was an hour to 1.5 hours late, now we might have four or five buses late that are 15 minutes (late) to school," he said. "And so those numbers add up when you're talking 60 kids per bus."
Malone is among several parents who wish the district could operate on last year's schedule. But Pollio was adamant that it's not possible because the previous school start times would increase bus routes by 25% when the district struggles to have enough drivers to cover its current workload.
Pollio said the data underscore his conclusion that JCPS has only two options to improve transportation: making some students ineligible for door-to-door bus service or hiring more bus drivers.
JCPS drivers are already paid well, with an average salary of $55,000 for the school year and some making more than $100,000 per year with extra hours, Pollio said.
The Jefferson County Board of Education will consider transportation options during its next meeting Feb. 13, Pollio said.
He said the three basic scenarios are:
- No longer provide buses for students who attend magnet and traditional schools
- Operate central hubs where magnet and traditional schools could get bused to school from a drop-off point instead of from their neighborhoods
- Keep the current system and its associated delays
"None of them are perfect options," Pollio said. "They all come with consequences and unintended consequences, but we want the community and our board to know what those consequences are going into it and then make an informed decision."
Corrie Shull, the chair of the school board, said the board is looking forward to getting more information from Pollio's administration about the options.
"We want to make sure that we are not excluding our most vulnerable students," he said.
Last year, there were only two start times. Middle school and high school instruction started at 7:40 a.m., while elementary schools started at 9:05 a.m. The new plan adopted this year by JCPS includes nine different start times ranging from 7:40 a.m. to as late as 10:40 a.m. (WDRB Photo)
JCPS Bus Coverage:
- JCPS board will consider these options to fix bus debacle in February, superintendent says
- Bill would allow Kentucky public school employees to drive students to and from school in passenger vehicles
- JCPS says transportation not guaranteed for all students next school year
- JCPS considering ways to decrease bus routes to minimize delays next school year
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.