LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville branch of the NAACP is calling on the resignation or dismissal of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Marty Pollio, according to its president, Raoul Cunningham.
The declaration comes hours before Wednesday's special-called board meeting where a vote on next school year's transportation plan is expected.
"The Jefferson County school district is in crisis," Cunningham said. "It is suffering from a crisis in leadership."
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, the organization argued JCPS needed to heed more of an independent audit's findings into how leadership handled a total transportation meltdown. They also pushed back against the district's proposal that would eliminate buses to magnet schools, saying it would disproportionately affect Black, brown and economically disadvantaged students.
"If you're not gonna provide transportation to those magnet schools, you're basically saying is all kids in our community do not get the opportunity to go to some of the best schools in our district," Dr. Raymond Burse, the branch's vice president, said.
NAACP Louisville also wants resignations from the any board members who support removing magnet buses.
JCPS Board Member Linda Duncan didn't make clear how she would vote Wednesday night, but she is one of three members who called for the special meeting—which the NAACP also criticized.
She justified her decision by saying JCPS transportation is anxious to finalize their plan so that staff and student families can have those details in their hands.
"We are already behind schedule. Waiting until Tuesday is not going to change any option," she wrote to WHAS11 via text messages. "We need to move now rather than later."
After the board tabled the initial vote on next year's plan, the district's top transportation leader, Rob Fulk, warned that further delays would make routing difficult.
In a letter, he wrote, "our routing season starts at the beginning of March," and that "this is not a typical routing season."
The challenge he faces is a steady decline in bus drivers, and he's calling for reduced routes as a solution. The only on-time busing solution he'll present to the board calls for cutting magnet routes, but one option makes an exception for Central and Western High Schools.
JCPS continues holding 'Bus Driver Blitz' hiring events. The next one is Saturday, April 13, at the Hilton Garden Inn on Crittenden Drive.
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