Amid opposition, school board postpones decision on JCPS busing for magnet students

Amid opposition from dozens of speakers and following a critical audit report, the Jefferson County school board voted Tuesday to postpone a decision on whether to end bus transportation for magnet students.

Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio had recommended cutting bus service for 16,000 magnet school students, saying it was the only way the district can ensure all bus riders get to and from school on time next year, given the bus driver shortage.

But many speakers who packed the school board meeting Tuesday disagreed, telling board members that taking away busing would hurt children and result in more segregated schools and fewer opportunities for students.

Additionally, board members heard from Prismatic Services, a K-12 education firm hired to investigate what caused the disastrous first day of school on Aug. 9 when the last student wasn't dropped off until nearly 10 p.m.

The firm's report — which was made public Monday but given to district leaders March 18 — found that as the district worked to simultaneously implement a new student assignment plan, new transportation system and new bell schedule, transportation leaders were not adequately involved in the conversations.

The report also found there were several flaws with the routes established by the Boston firm the district hired, and transportation and school leadership tried to warn administrators.

Tatia Prieto, Prismatic's founder, reviwed the 248-page report during Tuesday's meeting and, while answering questions, told board members that if she were in their position, she would hold off on making a major decision like ending magnet transportation.

"I do think the decision before you tonight ... is short on details I would want to know the answer to," Prieto told board members.

When asked by board member Chris Kolb why she thought transportation wasn't involved as the district made major changes involving student assignment and busing, Prieto said that perhaps those at the table felt they had enough background in that field.

When Kolb asked if they did, Prieto answered pointedly: "I think the incident (Aug. 9) speaks for itself."

Board Chair Corrie Shull later pushed further, asking if Prieto thought the district's transportation director — who is Marcus Dobbs — was intentionally excluded from these meetings. Prieto said yes.

Shull then recommended postponing a vote on magnet transportation until the April 16 meeting, so board members will have time to "digest" the audit report and responses to a survey the district sent out Thursday to families, soliciting their thoughts on the proposed change to magnet busing.

Pollio said Tuesday night that he agrees that postponing the vote is best for the district.

"A lot of this was new to us tonight, too," Pollio said of Prieto's comments during her presentation. "We had materials, but some of the stuff was new from Dr. Prieto's perspective. I think it would be best for everyone to table the discussion.”

All but one board member — James Craig — voted in favor of postponing their vote.

The board’s decision comes after months of public scrutiny and conversations on how to move forward since the district was forced to close schools six to seven days at the start of the year while leaders tried to work through the major systematic flaws. Since then, bus riders have continued to get to school late each day. Internal emails show buses are regularly late picking up students, too, sometimes as late as two hours.

Ending magnet transportation would likely have a greater impact on the magnet schools with a high rate of bus riders who are from impoverished households. A Courier Journal analysis found magnet schools in western and southern Louisville serve far more students in this category. A major drop in enrollment for a school directly impacts their staffing levels, which could in turn threaten the programs and extracurricular activities a school can offer.

It would also go against promises district leaders made within the new student assignment plan that was partially implemented this year. One part of that plan was to make JCPS magnet schools and programs more accessible to poor and minority students.

“If the proposed plan is adopted, you will once again place the burden on Black, brown — and this time — poor families; you will resegregate our students," said Raoul Cunningham, president of the NAACP Louisville Branch.

Cunningham pointed to the report from Prismatic, which “clearly warns against ending magnet transportation.” He quoted the report directly, which states, “doing so would be inequitable.”

More: 'Eye-opening' report into JCPS' busing disaster released ahead of magnet transportation vote

District leaders, however, emphasize that the current system is already disproportionately impacting Black, brown and impoverished students and this would continue next year if a significant number of routes were not cut.

The district buses about 44,000 students of color and most are missing an average of 14 minutes of instruction each day, JCPS spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan said. She continued by pointing out that there are around 19,000 Black students bused to resides schools, or schools attended by students based on where they live, compared to about 6,000 Black magnet bus riders.

The district has already "taken or committed to" taking multiple steps to improve transportation next year, JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said after the release of Prismatic's report. Those steps include hiring an in-house routing team of six employees who will establish bus routes, returning to mirrored routes and providing drivers with more time to practice their routes ahead of the new school year. With mirrored routes, students ride the same bus to and from school.

Contact Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS busing: Plan to end busing for Louisville magnets tabled