LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A special audit detailing what went wrong with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) transportation was released ahead of a major JCPS vote that will change the way the district will transport kids.
In a new report released Monday, an outside auditing company, called Prismatic Services, said JCPS didn't have the technology to overhaul its bus systems in the summer of 2023, tried to rollout several major new initiatives at the same time without understanding how difficult it would be, and suffered from "sub-optimal" work from AlphaRoute, the company it hired to design the routes.
The report was titled "Phase 1" and solely focused on the first day of school and the circumstances that led up to it. A district spokesperson said he expects a Phase 2 report to be released as well.
The report starts out by outlining three major initiatives the district rolled out all on the same day, Aug. 9, 2023:
- The new School Choice plan, which gave students "choice zones" (downtown and west end), a choice between a neighborhood school or a far away school.
- A new nine bell start time system.
- "Optimized" routes designed by AlphaRoute, a company founded by MIT grads in Massachusetts.
JCPS Board of Education member James Craig claimed the problems the state is watching unfold are caused by a shortage in bus drivers.
"The tardiness in our buses has been the number of drivers," he said. "We're told on an almost daily basis in JCPS, that we don't have enough drivers showing up to cover the routes that we have. Going forward, we have to reduce the number of riders we have inside of the system so that the system operates efficiently."
The board is now preparing to cast their votes on Tuesday to decide how students will be transported in the coming school year.
Superintendent Marty Pollio is recommending Option 1, which would cut transportation for a majority of magnet and traditional school students.
"We have to eliminate about 10,000 kids from the system in order to get the kids who are participating in the transportation system to and from school on time," Craig said. "I anticipate that the superintendent's recommendation will likely pass."
The recommendation has gained vocal opposition from community members.
"That is unacceptable, especially in West Louisville," said Former Councilwoman Mary Woolridge. "You know that would deny children and parents the opportunity to have a high quality education for African Americans and brown and poor people."
Both presidents of the Louisville NAACP and Louisville Urban League have said they are opposed to that option.
In a letter NAACP President Raoul Cunningham hand-delivered to JCPS at the Van Hoose Center on Wednesday, March 20, the organization said the first option would "...lead to further segregation of schools in West Louisville and deny opportunities for a high-quality education to Black, brown and poor students."
They also said if option one is selected, the NAACP would withdraw its support of the district's choice zone plan.
While JCPS, on the other hand, called this option the most equitable option with the least negative impact on students of color.
"We simply do not have the human resources available to us in order to ensure transportation to every single student who wants one," Craig said.
The board will vote Tuesday at 6 p.m. in what could lead to a historic change for the district.
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