LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This week, JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio proposed major changes to school choice that would give West Louisville families more control over where their student attends class. 

Pollio said that far too often, West Louisville families have to bus their children to schools many miles away.

“Probably the number one call we get in the in the student assignment office is a fifth-grade family saying I don’t want to send my child 25 miles away from home. I can’t get there,” Pollio said during a news conference this week.

Chyla Burks will be the first parent to say she wants more choice for school assignments.

She lives on Chestnut Street in West Louisville, and most of the families on her block have to send their children far across the city to attend middle and high school.

“They either go to Crosby or they go to Eastern,” Burks said. 

Burks is a mother of two and says there are more options as far as elementary schools, and very few in terms of middle schools. Her oldest son attends Crosby Middle School in Middletown.

It’s a 25 minute car ride, however Burks doesn’t have a car.

“Two TARCS, two buses and a thirty-minute walk. Two hours and 30 minutes just to get to my child. No vehicle,” Burks said.

Burks said that her middle-school son relies on JCPS transportation, which means he’s unable to take part in after-school activities and extracurriculars.

“I would love for my son to be in the art competitions that they have at school. My son is a great artist but I can’t. I have no way to get them,” she said.

Regarding a major shake-up of the system that gives parents more control over where their children attend school, Burks wants it but isn’t exactly confident that it’ll happen. Such a shift would require approval by the school board. 

“Our schools down here, our roads, our buildings, we look like how they want us to look like. It’s a hard sell because they aren’t trying to invest that money down here. They want that money out there,” Burks said, referring to suburban schools.