Top staff in Jefferson County Public Schools will not recommend changes to school start times for next year, despite a promise the board made in May to consider a plan that better aligns with child and adolescent sleep patterns.
According to an email to JCPS principals from JCPS Chief of Schools Robert Moore obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, JCPS’ operations department drafted a plan to move elementary schools to earlier start times, but staff and board members decided against using it.
One reason: earlier elementary start times would require up to 90 schools to change schedules, and “on time services would be impacted,” Moore wrote in the email sent Wednesday afternoon.
“[W]ith consultation with Operations and our Board, we are recommending that we make no changes to start times for the 25-26 school year,” Moore wrote.
When the Jefferson County Board of Education adopted JCPS’ current controversial schedule in May, it was supposed to be for one year only.
But Moore said the district has improved service and routing under the existing arrangement and that changing start times again “would require us to entirely re-route the whole district for the 3rd straight year.” Moore also expressed concerns that changing start times could throw a wrench in choosing a routing software provider. He also said Pollio’s impending departure could mean changing start times again in 2026-2027.
JCPS officials further outlined their reasoning in meeting materials for the November 12th school board meeting posted to the Jefferson County Board of Education’s public portal.
Board members struggled to pass the current 3-bell schedule in May after facing fierce opposition from principals and community members over the lack of transparency in developing the proposal and the unpopular 9:40 a.m. start time assigned to many elementary schools.
The plan passed on a 4-3 vote with a caveat proposed by District 3 member James Craig and seconded by District 4 member Joe Marshall “that the administration return to the Board no later than December 1, 2024, with a plan for optimizing start times for the 2025-2026 school year to comply with the Board’s goals of early times for elementary and later times for middle and high schools.”
District 5 member Linda Duncan, who voted in favor of the motion in May, told KyCIR Thursday that after talking with JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio, she felt ready to support his recommendation that the district proceed without changes.
“At this point we don’t want to take any chances on confusing the situation or creating any delays,” Duncan said.
The district moved to this year’s 3-bell time plan after last year’s computer-designed 9-bell time plan failed catastrophically on the first day of school. That 9-bell time schedule was part of a plan meant to solve for a dire bus driver shortage.
A bus driver shortage and delays throughout last year led the Jefferson County Board of Education to cut transportation this year to nearly all magnet students. JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio floated a plan to bring back transportation to some lower-income magnet students that hinged on an agreement with TARC, the city’s transit authority, to borrow 70 drivers.
According to JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan, 54 TARC drivers were onboarded and ready to drive for JCPS as of Thursday. Pollio previously told KyCIR the district needed at least 60 TARC drivers to restore any kind of magnet transportation.
Pollio had planned to bring a proposal to restore magnet transportation in September, but he told KyCIR that the onboarding process was delayed because many TARC drivers struggled to pass state tests required for school bus drivers.
Duncan told KyCIR she would prefer to use TARC drivers to improve on-time service for non-magnet students before restoring magnet routes.
