LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio delivered his sixth annual "State of the District" address highlighting the district’s successes and challenges moving forward.
Pollio, nearly seven years in to being the district's top leader, reflected openly on Tuesday.
"First thing I've learned," he began. "Once you think you've learned it all and you know it all about leadership, you're about to get punched in the mouth."
Another state audit of Kentucky's largest school district is on the horizon in Frankfort. Meanwhile, in Jefferson County, GOP lawmakers are considering splitting JCPS into smaller districts.
FULL 2024 STATE OF THE DISTRICT BELOW:
It's a road familiar to Pollio, but he warns splitting up the district could have dire consequences in the community.
"Students who have the least amount of resources in their home need to have the most amount of resources in their school," Pollio said. "If they break up JCPS, this will no longer happen."
The school district is no stranger to state audits. There have been six in the past seven years, according to the district. In some of those audits, the Kentucky department of Education weighed in—considering JCPS effective.
JCPS School Board Chair Corey Shull echoed Pollio, saying they are fine with another audit—if it's fair.
"We are against an audit with a pre-conceived outcome," Shull said. "We are not in favor of anything that is a political ploy."
But Pollio has been clear, it's time to face the music on busing students after last year's transportation fiasco.
In front of a crowd of educators and politicians, Pollio rallied for equity and praised the district's transition to choice zones. Those choices let families decide if they want students to attend schools closer to home, but contributed to new routes drivers struggle to complete.
"We know this," he said. "Ten years ago, we had over 950 bus drivers. Right now, we have approximately 550 bus drivers and we are providing the same services."
The superintendent said hiring in schools across the nation has been a continuing issue leading to difficult decisions.
"Increase drivers or decrease routes. That's what we can do," Pollio said.
While JCPS continues to hire more bus drivers, route cut to traditional and magnet schools are possible.
Pollio is proud of the district's move to a reading curriculum standard, which is planned to happen with math as well.
"We trained 4,000 teachers this summer when it came to teaching literacy," he said. "Math is next. We already have about half of our elementary schools. That's this summer, we'll have to train 6,000 more this summer."
Pollio also reiterated support for an optional backpack league program for students. The program lasts four weeks in the summer and originally started as a federal program to help recover from pandemic learning losses.
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