LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A spokesperson for Jefferson County Public Schools said late Monday night that all buses were clear at 7:48 p.m.
Monday was the first time students of all grade levels returned to the classroom since the first day of school on Aug. 9, when the last student was dropped off at 9:58 p.m.
While that was an improvement, some parents still had nightmare stories on the third attempt of going to school.
"When they told me that she dropped him off at Beech Street, I said, 'I don't even know where that's at,'" LaBobbie Barlow said, who says her son was dropped off roughly 2.7 miles from his scheduled stop.
Barlow was using Edulog Parent Portal Lite, which is in the family of apps JCPS said it would use to track students. While the district has not sent info out to parents yet on how to use the app, Barlow said she found an explanation on Facebook.
Barlow was waiting at her son's stop in the Taylor Berry neighborhood from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.; her son's stop lists a 2:59 p.m. drop off on the bus finder. She said she wasn't worried by the delays, as much as the fact that the bus had passed her stop and continuously circled the area.
At 4 p.m., she met the bus at Kennedy Elementary and spoke directly to the bus driver. The bus driver said she dropped her son off on "Beech Street" and Barlow had no idea why that would be.
"At this point, I'm in panic mode. I'm in mama bear panic mode," she said about driving around the Park Duvalle neighborhood looking for her 13-year-old son. She eventually found him walking on West Ormsby Avenue, roughly a 27-minute walk from Beech Street.
"Thank god he was older and he wasn't an elementary schooler. Thank god. I gave him a big hug and I asked, 'Are you okay?' and he said, 'I feel like I was in trouble,'" she said.
A JCPS spokesperson sent WHAS11 News this statement about the alleged drop-off incident:
The bus passed by 3 stops that were near his mother’s house before continuing on to several other stops, two of which had Beech St. as a cross street. It appears the student didn’t get off at his designated stop for whatever reason. Blankenbaker Compound is where that bus operates out of and it has already cleared for the night and I can’t get hold of them. We have not heard any reports of incidents involving that bus.
Barlow said she did get through to someone on the 485-RIDE hotline and they assured her they would elevate her concerns "to the higher-ups."
While it was a scary day for Barlow, Monday saw improvements for a lot of parents.
"The way this is, is way better than anticipated and way better than that first day. So, this is doable," Brittany Becerra said. Becerra drove .2 miles to pick up her first grader Lucas at his bus stop in the east end. His bus arrived almost right on time, after being 30 minutes late on day one.
"It was better than the first day. Hoping it will even get better in the coming days," Venkit Kuppuli said, who met his daughter at her bus stop at 5:35 p.m., which was about 25 minutes after its scheduled time. But, on Aug. 9, Kuppuli said their bus was several hours late. He was also using the Parent Portal Lite to track his daughter's bus.
Mom Berkley Collins also texted WHAS11 to say that she had a middle school student that was dropped off 36 minutes early on Monday.
In its announcement to parents and the media at the end of the night, JCPS said it made a lot of progress Monday.
“We were glad to see our high students back in classes today,” Superintendent Marty Pollio said. "I'm proud of our staff who hustled to make sure every child safely arrived at school and got to their bus stops home. While there were some hiccups, just as there are during the first week of school each year, I’m proud of the dedication of our JCPS team. We also want to again thank our families for their continuing patience as we work through these transportation issues.”
The district implemented several short-term changes, including contracting 20 more buses and drivers from Miller Transportation, adding more employees to the 485-RIDE hotline, increasing staff at bus compounds and getting vehicles to take kids home who were on the wrong bus.
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