JCPS board members: Trust in administration ruined after disastrous first-day bus problems
In their first public meeting with Superintendent Marty Pollio since the district's massive bus failures last week, Jefferson County Board of Education members spoke about their disappointment and lack of trust in the JCPS administration team.
They also requested an audit be conducted to figure out what went awry.
Families across Louisville have been enraged by how the district's new transportation unfolded on the first day of school, and board members during Tuesday's meeting echoed those concerns, with multiple saying they were not warned of any significant concerns.
Pollio opened the meeting with a report detailing how at least hundreds of students were stuck at school for hours after dismissal, how students were still on buses late into the evening and why students haven't been able to return to school since.
Elementary and middle school students are set to return to class Friday and high school students on Monday after six and seven days of missed instruction, respectively.
The issues were caused by a lack of technology to assist drivers, the addition of 5,000 bus stops that weren't initially part of the busing plan, compounded delays at bus depots and a lack of accounting for human error in the plan, Pollio said.
The absolute mess that occurred, he told board members, should have been predicted.
District 4's Joe Marshall was the first board member to address Pollio after his report, saying that Wednesday's disaster made him feel "mad, confused, perplexed, upset - but worst of all, I am disappointed."
The board, he said, is not responsible for the day-to-day operations of the district and none of the district's top employees responsible for implementing the new busing system informed the board there were potential issues.
"You must know that trust takes communication, honesty and transparency and on the first day of school, this team failed on three of those levels," Marshall said.
District 6's Corrie Shull also questioned the district's leadership, and requested that an external agency conduct an audit to determine what, and who, is responsible for the poor implementation of the new system.
"It sounds as though people just didn't do their jobs and that is unacceptable," Shull said.
"It seems it is critical that at this time in history, it's important to have the right people on the bus and it seems to me that we do not have the right people," he continued.
His remarks, he explained to The Courier Journal, were not in reference to bus drivers, but rather administrative employees who "have shown incompetence."
Moving forward, the district plans to launch an app - made by Edulog - that will allow parents to know where their child's bus is. Other districts already using this technology include Dallas Independent Schools, Chicago Public Schools and DeKalb County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.
This app should fix the "unfair" treatment families received last week, when they weren't able to connect with schools or the bus compound to figure out where their students were.
The district is also hiring additional employees to ride with drivers and students, among other changes.
More: What parents need to know about JCPS' staggered return to school and bus system changes
Olivia Krauth contributed to this report. Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS board to Pollio: Bus fiasco ruined its trust in administration
