LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Students in Jefferson County Public Schools may not return to class for their second day of school until the middle of next week, Superintendent Marty Pollio said Friday.

It comes after a total overhaul of bus routes for Kentucky's largest school district turned into a logistical meltdown on the first day of classes, with some elementary-aged students not making it home until just before 10 p.m.

Administrators canceled classes Thursday and Friday, leaving parents and state legislators fuming.

Pollio addressed the public on Friday after widespread backlash to bus routes and schedules at JCPS. The district overhauled its start times and bus routes this year to cope with an ongoing bus driver shortage.

He said drivers and district leadership will work through the weekend on implementing the transportation system. JCPS hopes to resume classes by Wednesday, Pollio said, but official word on that would come this weekend.

If classes don't resume Monday, Pollio said NTI days will not be considered and the district will be asking the Jefferson County Board of Education to forgive as many days "as legally possible" in light of the busing blunder.

The district spent $265,000 to hire the AlphaRoute engineering firm to create a plan that would cut the number of bus routes and stops.

Pollio said the issue arose more from implementation issues, and that he doesn't directly place the blame on AlphaRoute.

Beau Kilpatrick has five kids attending schools in the district but said the only major transportation problems were with his elementary-school aged children, two girls in the first and third grades. The morning bus was supposed to arrive at 8:38 a.m. but never came, he said. After half an hour of waiting, he drove them to the school a few miles away. In the afternoon, the bus was almost two hours late for pickup.

Kilpatrick said the children had to sit in a school hallway while waiting for the bus to arrive because the cafeteria was already full. Then the children weren't dropped off until three hours later, at 9:15 p.m.

“They were hungry," he said. "They were thirsty. They couldn’t use the bathroom. They were scared because they just wanted to get home,” he said.

The younger child was covered in urine and Kilpatrick had to assure her that she wasn’t in trouble. Their father called it a "complete failure” by the district.

During the transportation overhaul this weekend, Pollio said the district will move to "tag" all K-12 students with bus information instead of just elementary schoolers, since every student has at least two bus drivers.

A group of state lawmakers representing Jefferson County districts called it “the last straw,” saying the debacle “must be the catalyst for change” in the school system.

The lawmakers signaled that they will push for legislation ensuring that students have the right to attend their neighborhood schools. They called for a commission to evaluate splitting up the school system, contending that the district currently is “too big to properly manage.” And they called for changes to the local school board.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.