Kennedy Miles couldn’t believe it when the crimson and white confetti spilled from the envelope and revealed the letter inside that informed her she’d been accepted to duPont Manual High School.
The school — known as Manual — is arguably the most prestigious school in the Jefferson County Public Schools system. Getting in is a big deal.
“I was like ‘Oh my god! I just got into Manual!’ I just completely didn’t expect it. I was like texting everybody,” Kennedy said.
But now, Kennedy and her mother are being forced to go to enormous lengths to make sure the rising junior can stay at the school.
Kennedy is one of thousands of JCPS students who will have to find their own way to school this week after the Jefferson County Board of Education cut transportation for nearly all of the district’s 18,000 magnet and traditional school students. District officials say they don’t have enough bus drivers to go around.
For Kennedy’s mother, the change means she will get less than three hours of sleep each night so she can take her daughter to school between work shifts.
Other students are leaving their magnet programs altogether.
Early data shows that in the wake of the cuts — roughly 1,000 students will have to leave their magnet schools. The majority are low-income students and students of color.
To hear how these cuts will impact Louisville’s students, listen above to the latest episode of Dig, an audio series from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
