JCPS Superintendent, school board should have resigned in wake of busing catastrophe

As the bloody battle progressed on D-Day, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower nervously awaited the outcome. As he waited, in his pocket was a hand-written note he had jotted down the night before. In case the landings on the Normandy beaches were repulsed, Eisenhower would tell the free world that “if any blame attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.” Thanks to God and the courage of hundreds of thousands soldier, sailors and airmen, the General never had to use that note.

It is highly unlikely that those responsible for the 2023 JCPS transportation disaster will ever exhibit the class and grace of Dwight David Eisenhower on June 6, 1944. For the inexcusable failures that caused nearly 100,000 JCPS students to miss 7 days of school, the Jefferson County Board of Education should have demanded the immediate resignation of Superintendent Marty Pollio, appointed an interim replacement and then all seven Board members should have themselves resigned.

You need a calculator to add up the multitude of excuses Dr. Pollio gave why his bus schedule collapsed like a house of cards, everything except “the dog ate our transportation plans.” The hapless Superintendent and our vaunted Bored With Education only had five months to construct a plan that would work aided, more or less — mostly less, by an out-of-state consultant whose $275,000 “algorithms” couldn’t put together a one-car funeral.

It’s a given that Dr. Pollio should have been fired, but let’s don’t absolve the Board of Alleged Education that hired him and who was supposed to carry out THEIR policies. “We had no idea there was a problem,” said one shocked, SHOCKED Board member. Why didn’t the Board members have any idea there were problems? What input did they have with the plan, what questions did they ask, what oversight did they exercise? Why didn’t they do their jobs? We’ll never know since not a single member of our Board of Education will deign to hold an open, no-holds-barred public meeting to address their subjects’— oops— their constituents’ questions. After the entire Board resigned, the Governor could have then appointed a Receiver to manage the district at least until December when a new (or the current) governor is sworn into office. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this latest JCPS fiasco, to be added to the existing grim record of two generations of failing JCPS schools, the plummeting national test scores (that were alarming long before the pandemic), the tragic achievement gaps between minority and non-minority students, the lost years due to an indefensible refusal to re-open schools after COVID ran its course, and the continued assaults by some “students” against teachers, staff, and bus drivers. And the “winners” are:

• The apathetic voters in this county who routinely re-elect do-nothing incumbents to the school board.

• The super-majority Republicans in Frankfort; those that were in the Executive branch. When former Education Commissioner Jason Glass, appointed by Republican governor Matthew Griswold Bevin, inexplicably declined a slam-dunk decision in 2019 to have the state take over JCPS, they blew a golden opportunity that would have been the best thing to happen in Louisville since the government merger in 2002. Our GOP state legislators from Jefferson County must seize the initiative in the next legislative session to introduce JCPS, by statute, to the concept of “accountability,” since there is zero accountability at the local level.

• Lastly, I continue to blame Louisville’s risk-averse business community for the public education eyesore our children and grandchildren must endure year after year after year. The deafening silence from United Parcel Service, Humana, Ford Motor Co., General Electric, YUM Brands, Churchill Downs and Greater Louisville, Inc. — especially GLI — has been the epitome of corporate malfeasance. These powerful companies (and their advocate, GLI) are the economic engines of this community and have a vested interest in the success of our public schools. It is inconceivable that these large businesses would tolerate, among their own management, the serial failures that are the standard bill of fare from JCPS. Why are they so silent? Why don’t they step up and demand better? Can it be they don’t give a damn? They must realize that until JCPS moves beyond failure and mediocrity, Louisville will always stand in the front rank of second-tier American cities.

On behalf of the long-suffering JCPS parents and tax payers, I ask the leadership of these companies “When will enough be enough?”

Bob Heleringer is a Louisville attorney and a former Kentucky state Representative. He can be reached at helringr@bellsouth.net.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS Superintendent, school board should have resigned over busing