LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every school day Erin Hinson helps her two kids Oliver and Henry get ready for school. She then sends them off, and waits for the notification about when Oliver will be dropped off at school.
"We counted it up, and he's missed two full days," Hinson said.
Living in Middletown and going to Noe Middle School in Old Louisville, Oliver's on-time bus route would be one hour and 20 minutes one-way each morning. But due to the district's ongoing transportation woes, Oliver is at least 15 minutes late every day.
"Let's say he's 10 minutes late to school, that's from the time the bus gets to school," she said. "That doesn't account for the -- he has to wait for the attendance clerk to write him a note, he has to get to class, he has to put his stuff in his locker. And I think there's this expectation that he just gets settled because he's late...none of us do that."
Noe Middle School starts at 8:40 a.m. and Oliver said at the beginning of the year, they would sometimes not get there until 9:30 a.m. Things have gotten slightly better, but he says they sometimes still miss a class.
"There have been cases where we get to school, and immediately have to go to 'related arts.' We skip like a chunk of our first class," Oliver said.
Erin thinks this has increased her son's anxiety, and she's frustrated it's their daily reality.
"As a mom, I tell my kids it's okay to fail," Erin said. "Right? We learn from failure. What we can't do is live in failure. And I feel like that's what JCPS is doing right now with its transportation plan."
FOCUS obtained records of missed instructional time due to late morning buses this October, and was able to compare it to October 2022.
Last October, an average of 1,104 students arrived late on a bus every day, and they were missing 17.3 minutes of class. This year, an average of 5,999 students were late every morning, missing an average of 13.2 minutes. While the average time missed went down, the number of late students increased by 5.4 times.
"We have to get kids a full day of instruction," JCPS board member Linda Duncan said Tuesday night.
JCPS board members and admin talked about the transportation issues at-length Tuesday. Interim Chief Operating Officer Dr. Rob Fulk said while they technically have more bus drivers than routes, they start every day 50 drivers short because of repeated call-outs.
"We're starting every day 50 routes underwater," Fulk said.
Since 2015, the district has decreased its number of routes to try and keep up with the number of drivers who are quitting. The most recent downsize was felt extremely hard at the start of this current school year, when school was canceled for over a week due to kids getting home at such a late hour, kids not getting picked up, and some getting dropped off at the wrong spot.
Another huge change this year was the switch from two start times to nine across the district.
"The bus driver shortage is not a JCPS issue, it's a national issue," Fulk said. "We have had some success recruiting new drivers. We have 11 new drivers that have passed their CDL, we have six new drivers who are testing this week."
Fulk said he has formed a strong relationship with Teamsters Local 783 President John Stovall, who oversees the bus drivers union. He also said they have instituted driver incentives like a bonus for taking a "challenging route" or not missing a single day in a pay period.
The largest changes that have been hinted at are removing transportation for students at magnet schools, like Oliver, or traditional schools. That was again hinted at Tuesday and could be voted on as soon as February.
But Fulk said they are still making small changes this school year. He said they eliminated five routes for efficiency Tuesday and will make sure there is "no more low-hanging fruit" they can get.
Erin doesn't understand this potential change. When they put in their address and Crosby Middle School, which is Oliver's reside school, into bus finder, it still shows him going through a bus compound and riding for roughly the same amount of time.
"I get really frustrated when the district tries to throw it back on parental choice," she said. "Because even if I chose to send him to his reside school, he would still be driving all over the eastern part of the county trying to get to a school that's three minutes from our house."
Fulk said they have had initial communication with more bus routing companies, and a new request for proposal could be coming soon. Hinson said it's important for administrators and board members to see it first hand before making any big changes.
"The leadership of this district needs to be on buses," she said.
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