LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With just over two weeks before the start of school, the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) is informing parents in the district about changes made to bus routes and school start times.
This year, the district has completely overhauled its busing system, making routes more efficient for nearly every campus. JCPS will implement a variety of school start times. Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio explained these changes aim to ensure students arrive to class and return home on time.
“Unfortunately, a lot of instructional time was missed last year due to a shortage of bus drivers, resulting in thousands of students arriving late to school. We cannot repeat that for another year; we had to make these changes,” Pollio said.
For the first time in a while, JCPS has more bus drivers — around 620 — than the 600 bus routes it operates.
“As a result, we will not have students getting to school late and missing hours of instruction. About 20,000 students missed instructional time last year due to late buses,” Pollio added.
Having an increased number of bus drivers will also reduce the number of extra trips they have to make, thus getting students to and from school more efficiently than before.
For JCPS bus drivers like Avon Paul, the start of a new school year is always exciting.
“I’m anxious, never nervous, always enjoy dealing with the kids, always enjoy dealing with the parents, you know, enjoy doing my job,” Paul said.
Paul, a former Marine, has been driving for the district for the last seven years. He says he takes pride in what he does and enjoys being a part of his student’s education.
“To have kids on your bus, you know you’ve had them since they were in kindergarten and see them graduate out of elementary school and go to middle school, it’s rewarding,” said Paul.
Like other drivers in the district, he will soon begin practicing his new bus routes ahead of the first day of school.
“So yeah, there are some changes and some inconveniences that I think we’ll all have to face, but getting kids to school on time and getting them home on time is our number one goal in this,” Pollio emphasized.
While there may be some initial hiccups at the start of the year, dedicated drivers like Paul are ready to take on the challenge.
On Monday, the district released a Bus Finder page on its website to help families prepare for the start of school. You will need to enter your home address and the school your child attends to get bus route information. If something does not seem right, JCPS asks parents to reach out to their child’s school.
The first day of school for JCPS is Aug. 9.