LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The ride home for thousands of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) students was markedly easier Thursday than it was one year ago. The district said the last student was dropped off at 7 p.m., three hours earlier than in 2023.
"I mean, we've been dealing with this for several years; I know where my kids are, I know they're coming home, so, I'm not panicking about it," David Russ said while waiting for his daughters to be dropped off.
Russ lives in the far east end near the Shelby County line. His two daughters ended up being dropped off 40 minutes after their scheduled drop-off time. JCPS said every year the first few days of school will always have slow times, and they will improve by mid-next-week.
Russ said if that happens, his worries will all be gone.
RELATED: JCPS buses on-time picking up students, but long drop-off lines cause delays at some schools
“I mean it’s frustrating," Russ said. "They’re doing better than they were last year. If 30 minutes isn’t too bad, they can get that down 20, 10, on time in the next couple of weeks I’ll be pretty happy."
Another reason Russ was not panicking at the bus stop was that he was using the bus tracking app the district has selected called Edulog. JCPS debuted the app in August of last year, trying to ease parent's minds as they returned to the classroom after several canceled days of school due to the busing issues.
In Northfield, D'Etta Thomas also had to wait 30 extra minutes for her 7-year-old Weston to be dropped off.
"Thirty minutes is nothing, compared to what we dealt with last year," Thomas said.
Thomas' two sons attempted to ride the bus to Dunn Elementary on the first day last year, but when the morning bus never showed, she pulled them off the bus and drove them for the remainder of the year.
"We didn't take the bus, but both my kids last year were in the same school," Thomas said. "This year I have a middle schooler and an elementary schooler, so we wanted to try the bus. And I know it's gonna get better."
Her biggest complaint this year was that the bus picked up Weston on the side of the street with no sidewalk or crosswalk, and he had to cross Lime Kiln Lane at the bottom of a hill, which she thinks is unsafe. She said her son's driver agreed it'd be better on the other side of the street.
"He even yelled out of his window that he would see if he could switch," Thomas said. "Because he realized when he was here like, wow, this is--this could probably be dangerous."
In his early evening press conference about the first day, Superintendent Marty Pollio said it was not a "redemption" of the first day of school last year, but he did feel it was an improvement.
"More than anything, I'm glad to be able to put last year's start behind us," Pollio said. "We've now had a successful first day of school. I don't know if 'redeemed' is the right word. I feel we've learned a great deal."
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.