LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Frustration over bus delays and overcrowding have reached a boiling point for hundreds of JCPS families.
JCPS leaders are preaching patience as they battle with driver shortages and consider schedule changes as a remedy to the issue.
"Trying to re-approach how we route buses, knowing we weren't going to have as many drivers to cover those routes," said JCPS Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins.
Some parents though are drawing a line, saying there are some situations younger kids should never find themselves in.
"That afternoon, it took them two hours," JCPS parent Dilyara Selim said about her Kindergarten son Omar's first-week experience riding the bus home.
Selim believes this year's JCPS bus conditions have hit an unacceptable new low.
"He's only five. He's never experienced this before," Selim said.
Selim said her son got home in distress hours after dismissal, despite living inside two miles of his school.
"The next day I called the school and said I'm going to switch him over to car rider," she said.
Selim is among hundreds of parents sharing stories about students waiting long hours, packed into buses, sitting three to a seat, or in some cases forced to stand during routes because of a lack of space.
Others saying their kids waited, confused, without a message sent from schools to parents.
"I'm home, and he's not, so I start worrying," Selim said.
The school district's response:
"We just ask for parents' patience and know that we're aware and addressing those [problems]," Perkins said.
Perkins tells WHAS11 this isn't for a lack of effort.
"Enlisted the help of a lot of our local schools that have activity bus drivers," Perkins said.
JCPS has said before: It is short drivers, saying even adding $6 an hour to wages has still left gaps.
JCPS leaders are now even considering spreading out drop-offs, and possibly adding a third dismissal time to the mix (right now it's 3:45 p.m. for most elementary schools, and 2:20 p.m. for most middle and high schools).
"But we're also looking at staggering arrival and dismissal times in those grade-level specific schools," Perkins said.
Perkins said they'll do what they can to avoid cancelling routes entirely.
Meanwhile from the parents side, many saying regardless of staffing problems, a standard must be upheld.
"Forty-five minutes I understand, but two hours no. Two hours is too much," Selim said.
We asked COO Chris Perkins what it would take for the school district to decide to make some of those dismissal changes. He didn't give a threshold, instead saying there's been conversation and planning.
Perkins did say though that there's more momentum behind this now than a week ago.
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