Lawmakers demand education reform after Kentucky bus crisis

Kentucky lawmakers are calling for changes to the state’s education system following a transportation failure last week that left hundreds of children stranded on school buses until after 10 p.m. on the first day of school. 

On Saturday, Jefferson County Public Schools informed parents and the public in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that there would be no school on Monday and Tuesday as it continues to work to ensure the “reliability” of its bus services. However, in a follow-up post, JCPS confirmed that all extracurricular activities would continue as usual. 

According to The Associated Press, the Kentucky school district had reworked its bus system to reduce the number of routes due to a bus driver shortage. The district had consulted with a company that maps out courses and stops using computer algorithms; however, the bus drivers reportedly needed more time to practice the new routes. 

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, JCPS directed CP to a Friday press conference Superintendent Marty Pollio held to address the transportation problems following the implementation of the AlphaRoute computer program. In response to a question about whether the district should be split up, the superintendent raised concerns about the logistics of such a plan. 

“I’ve talked about the difference in this city demographically, socioeconomically and with how we would split up a city so that districts would not be 100% destitute by property assessments,” Pollio said, in addition to raising concerns about the length of time it could take to build additional schools.

AlphaRoute did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

Following the busing problems, 12 members of Jefferson County’s legislative delegation issued an open letter to parents, teachers, students and taxpayers, demanding several changes. Instead of busing kids across the county, the lawmakers called for students to have the right to attend schools within their neighborhood and for the creation of a commission to assess splitting up the district. 

“Third, we will call for extensive changes to our school board, which has shown that it is not up to the task of managing our $2 billion school district,” the letter states. “Fourth, we strongly support school choice, which will empower parents to have more control over the education of their children. To that end, we support putting a school choice amendment on the 2024 ballot for the voters to decide.” 

The 12 lawmakers’ final demand is for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to call a special session of the General Assembly to begin the process of enacting the policies proposed in the letter.

In a Thursday video statement, Pollio issued an apology, empathizing with parents by acknowledging how “unnerving” it must have been when their children didn’t return home at the expected time. He also apologized to the bus drivers and school personnel who were impacted by the incident, with some staff members having to work longer to ensure the students’ safety.

“And the difficult part for me was a great day at our school,” the superintendent said. “I saw some incredible instruction. Kids excited, families excited, new school buildings, and to have it end with the transportation disaster that we had last night was truly unacceptable.” 

Pollio announced that for the next four days, the district would review all bus routes and stops in addition to providing bus drivers with paid training to learn their new routes. The superintendent also promised to improve communication between families and the schools, adding that the district plans to increase its call center within the next few days.

As WDRB reported last week, a school district in Columbus, Ohio, also failed to successfully implement the AlphaRoute software after paying $1.5 million for it. According to John Stovall, president of the bus driver’s union Teamsters Local 783, the union outlined its concerns with the software to JCPC before school started. 

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