JCPS drivers are complaining about student behavior. Here's what the kids are doing
In the latest saga of Jefferson County Public Schools' busing debacle, drivers took a stand against their working conditions, orchestrating a sickout for two days that resulted in dozens of canceled routes.
Their biggest gripes: Student behavior and discipline.
Both have long been issues, a driver who asked for anonymity told The Courier Journal, but things have escalated since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There have been numerous situations where drivers are being threatened," said the driver, who asked that her name not be used out of fear of retribution. "The kids are out of control and they get put right back on the bus."
Drivers are almost always the only adult on the bus, which can transport roughly 70 students.
"It's not easy going down the highway at 55 mph while trying to get kids to sit down, to not hang out the window, to not punch other kids, to not eat," the driver said. "It's very difficult, and the kids don’t understand they aren’t immortal - they think nothing is going to hurt them."
When students misbehave, school staff and drivers can issue referrals, which come with differing consequences, according to the district's Student Support and Behavior Intervention Handbook.
In the aftermath of the sickout, district leaders have decided to staff each bus compound with a "climate and culture staff member" starting Wednesday. Their responsibilities will include receiving referrals directly from drivers, ensuring the referrals are reviewed in a timely manner and answering drivers' questions about violations.
“We have been listening and continue to listen to bus drivers and their ideas on improving some students’ behavior on buses," JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said Friday. "Some changes in the way we will be handling future referrals are a direct result of these discussions. These changes should result in quicker decisions on possible discipline for students and better communication of outcomes with drivers and their supervisors.”
The Courier Journal obtained a list of bus referrals from last year, showing nearly 15,000 were issued to students across the system for a variety of reasons. This is the latest full year for which data is available, but there have been instances of issues on buses that have made headlines this year.
In September a JCPS student released pepper spray on a bus headed to a middle school after two unauthorized adults boarded the bus at a stop.
That same day, two people were shot in Russell after an altercation that started on a JCPS bus, according to Louisville Metro Police. One of those victims was an Eastern High student.
What were the most cited offenses among JCPS bus referrals?
There were more than three dozen types of offenses students received referrals for last year, ranging from physical violence to drug use or possession to horseplay and more.
Failure to remain seated on the bus was the most common offense, leading to more than 3,800 referrals, followed by fighting among students with 3,355. Nearly 2,500 students received referrals for horseplay, and there were more than 1,400 referrals for profanity or vulgarity toward students or staff.
There were 750 referrals for intentionally throwing an object and nearly 400 for taunting, baiting or inciting a fight. Throwing things out bus windows was a somewhat frequent offense, too, with 362 referrals written for that.
Students were also cited for using or possessing tobacco products, including vapes, about 200 times. There were 85 referrals written to students for having a weapon or dangerous instrument.
Some of the less frequent offenses included two referrals for gambling given to two high school students, five referrals for drug distribution - which included two elementary students - and seven referrals for self harm, four of which were given to elementary students.
The student handbook indicates instances of self harm must be documented.
There were some categories within the data provided by JCPS to The Courier Journal, in a response to an open records request, that don't appear to belong among bus referrals - including talking out in class, failure to attend detention and cutting class. These, however, represent a fraction of the list.
Which JCPS schools had the most bus referrals?
Most of the bus referrals went to middle school students. All high schools had less than 100 referrals written to their students, aside from Southern High, which had 144.
Stuart Middle in southern Louisville had the greatest number of bus referrals at 597, followed by Carrithers Middle at 432.
Among elementary schools, Wilkerson had the most at 386.
Click this link to search each school, which will show the category of offense along with the grade of the student.
What are the punishments for JCPS bus referrals?
A bus referral should be handled by the school in the same fashion that a referral issued by the school is handled and the severity of the behavior dictates the response, according to the district's handbook.
Referrals should be written if a student's behavior amounts to infractions considered Level 2, which include things like horseplay and cussing, according to the handbook. These infractions should "always result in the involvement of school administration,' with the goal of correcting "the behavior by stressing its seriousness while keeping the student in school," it states.
Level 3 infractions - such as fighting or drug possession - could result in students being suspended from the bus, while Level 4 infractions call for immediate removal of the student. When suspended from the bus, students have to find an alternative way to school until the suspension ends.
Despite this policy, the driver who spoke to The Courier Journal said she believes schools have been giving "very mild" disciplinary actions to students who misbehave on buses.
"Their main objective, I think, is to keep (the students) in school and they start out with conferences or calling the parent or maybe suspending them off the bus. However, I have been told that other drivers have taken these kids home to keep them off the regular bus, but it's not teaching them anything. They need harsher consequences."
Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS bus drivers wrote 15K referrals last year. What the students did:
