LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Inside Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), change is looming for hundreds, if not thousands of magnet and traditional school students, faced with very little options for how to get to and from school next year.
"A lot of people are having to consider different options for next year," Jayden Stroud, a junior at DuPont Manual High School, said. "You build bonds with people for so long — all the way from when you started as a freshman, or even some people in middle school — and you're just trying to finish out your schooling. And for that to get taken away from you right before you're about to have another big change is really hard."
Under the new transportation plan, passed by the school board this past week, JCPS plans to cut transportation to all magnet and traditional schools, except schools where 75% or more of students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.
Under the option, four JCPS magnet high schools meet that threshold: Central High School, Western High School, W.E.B. DuBois Academy High and Grace James Academy of Excellence.
For magnet school parents like Demetrius Stroud, the new plan signals worry.
"I know a lot of parents are gonna' have to change their schedule around," he said. "If all of a sudden, in your sophomore, junior, even your senior year, you're introduced to a new school, a new set of friends, new administration, new school system, period, I mean, that's gotta not be good."
In the wake of Wednesday's school board vote, Stroud's daughter Jayden described the mood inside DuPont Manual High School as "a little more standoffish."
"You know? Why keep trying joining clubs, applying to different things when you know, you're gonna have to do it all over again (next school year)," she said. "People aren't using their resources as much, because they already know they're going to have to make the shift."
For Male High School parent Maurice Churn, inconvenience doesn't entirely mean incorrect.
"Obviously, it's inconvenience on many levels for most parents, and most families," Churn said. "Being in (a) shortage of school bus drivers and stuff, I know where they're trying to get to."
The district's transportation team estimates 475 bus drivers will be available at the start of next school year with a plan to have kids dropped off by 6:15 p.m. to 6:25 p.m.
Those who support the plan say it's a necessary choice to keep district-wide transportation on track next year.
But others, like Churn, worry about its impact on disadvantaged students.
"I think it's gonna have a effect all across the county," Churn said. "I get to see a lot of the shortcomings that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis outside of school. So now, it seems like it's done trickled over into the school system, as well."
In an email sent out to parents by JCPS, the district stated the shortage of bus drivers leads students to miss instructional time.
If students no longer qualify for transportation to their choice schools next school year, students' principals will follow up with more information in the coming weeks, the email stated.
The district will also provide more context regarding a stipend program its launched to aid families who will need to travel.
Three weeks ago, officials with the company Prismatic Services released an audit — nearly half a year in the making — that documented the district's missteps from August's transportation meltdown to now.
Officials with the company found, "JCPS leadership did not seem to have adequately weighed the time needed to implement such sweeping changes as [School Start Time] or the large-scale [Routing Optimization] it undertook."
A racial equity analysis obtained by WHAS11 News also raised some concerns about the old Option 1 plan to cut all magnet and traditional school transportation, from which the current plan was derived.
In the survey, which is also taken by district leaders for every major policy change to ensure it's equitable, a team of community leaders said they felt cutting magnet bus service "will widen the opportunity gap," adding that it will have "adverse effect on learning and attendance."
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