LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools is looking for feedback on proposed changes to its student assignment plan.
In a webinar JCPS hosted Tuesday night, Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio said the changes have the potential to be the biggest changes the district has made to the plan in decades.
"We haven't had real substantial change and we knew a couple years ago that it was really time to look at it and review and make tough decisions," Pollio said.
JCPS is already hearing from hundreds of families after releasing its survey on Monday.
Pollio said the changes center around school choice for all students and access to those schools.
They come after a task force spent the last two years reviewing the district's student assignment plan. The task force is made up of district employees and parents. JCPS typically reviews the plan every five to seven years.
The task force has now proposed six changes for community feedback. According to the district, those changes are:
- Provide an option for West Louisville families in satellite areas to send their kids to a middle or high school in their neighborhood
- Eliminate magnet school/program exits
- Utilize diversity targets and goals for magnet schools/programs
- Replicate popular magnet schools/programs
- Introduce new interest-based magnet schools/programs
- Centralize magnet lottery admissions processes
During the webinar, JCPS officials expanded on why the changes are recommended. Eliminating the exit interviews, for example, would leave it up to only parents to decide if their student should be removed from a magnet school. Right now, schools have the ability to move an underperforming student out of the school.
"The committee really thought this is a decision best left up to parents about what is best for their child rather than the school," Barbara Dempsey, the director of student assignment, said.
Right now, some magnet schools have a lottery admissions process. The task force says that selection should be overseen by the central district office so the decisions are more transparent to families.
"We don't have any interest in upsetting everyone where they are now," Dempsey said.
Students currently in magnet programs likely wouldn't be affected by the changes.
District spokeswoman Renee Murphy said the JCPS board must approve the changes and will likely vote within the next few months after the district gets more feedback. Murphy said the survey will be open until Mid-December.
You can re-watch the webinar here.
You can fill out the survey here.
Contact reporter Tyler Emery at temery@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@TylerWHAS11) and Facebook.
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.