Students returned to class in Jefferson County Public Schools Thursday -– parents and kids hopeful that this first day would be nothing like last year’s.
After last August’s transportation meltdown and the scathing audit that followed, JCPS officials spent months redesigning routes and improving technology. Drivers have been practicing those new routes all week, and Thursday they had to make it work with students on board.
JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said he expected the day to go fairly smoothly, with typical first-day wrinkles to be ironed out.
“I always feel the pressure on the first day. It’s obviously amplified today,” he told LPM from the Nichols Bus Compound early Thursday morning.
Pollio said this year’s opening day was “probably the most important” the district has had in a long time, “just because of what happened last year and making sure we do much better this year.”
In addition to pressure from the JCPS community the district is also under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce the time students are missing due to delays. State Republicans also have the district in their crosshairs over its transportation failures, and are exploring splitting it up.
Pollio said the district was aiming for all students to be dropped off by 7:30 p.m. Thursday. But they beat their first-day goal. The last child was dropped off at 7 p.m., with 98% of students home by 6:30 p.m., according to a district spokesperson.
As students and drivers become accustomed to the new routes, the last drop-off should be around 6:15 or 6:30 p.m., Pollio said.
Officials were also pleased with the morning commute. Pollio said 95% of students arrived at school before the bell. Last year, thousands of JCPS students arrived at school regularly after classes started, due to bus delays.
One major change to transportation was the decision to cut bus service to nearly all magnet schools.
At Louisville Male High School that means nearly all 2,000 students are now car riders. On Thursday, many of them were stuck on Preston Highway in a traffic snarl a mile long.
Thirty minutes after Male’s 7:30 a.m. opening bell, car riders were still snaking through the drop off lane.
Parents reported similar issues online at other schools.
JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said JCPS “expected that some schools would have longer lines than others today.”
“We are reviewing how drop off went at each school and will see how pickups go. We will make adjustments as needed to improve the process,” she said.
This story has been updated.
