LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools will remain closed Monday and Tuesday, but some lawmakers heard concerns from JCPS parents over the weekend.
The concerns stem from the problems that caused students to arrive home hours late last week on the first day of school.
It’s a dilemma that so many JCPS parents faced.
“How do we move forward? What is the plan?” asked Brittany Abdelahad, a parent. “I feel like most people don’t think there is a plan because we haven’t been told there is a plan or any kind of semblance to a plan.”
She expressed her concerns and frustrations Sunday at Brown Park and now her attention has shifted to where the district goes from here.
“They’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Do we need adjusted start times? Maybe. Do we need nine from two? Probably not. Could we have gone from 2 to 4? Could we have done some stair set model?” she said. “Could we tried, could we have tried to pay the bus drivers a little bit more in their hourly wage to attract more bus drivers but also to retain and then we wouldn’t be so short on routes? We would be short, but we still wouldn’t be as short as we are today.”
The questions keep piling up as parents await some answers.
JCPS canceled classes last week after what Superintendent Dr. Marty Polio called a “transportation disaster.” The district sent a note saying some elementary-aged students didn’t arrive home until close to 10 p.m.
By Thursday morning, classes were canceled to allow time for JCPS to improve transportation routes.
Lawmakers like State Representative Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, heard from parents at Brown Park on Sunday.
“As the parent of a third and fourth grader at JCPS, this took me right back to COVID closures and brought up a lot for me,” Raymond said. “So we want parents to have a space to vent, to ask their questions, to share their concerns and we can take all those things with us to Frankfort when the session starts in January.”
Raymond said it’s important to her to keep parents’ voices a priority in political discussions.
“You’ve seen Republicans in Frankfort already push a preexisting agenda to break up JCPS and dissolve the school board. And I’m a Democrat, but I see Democrats talking about public school from a sort of theoretical perspective,” Raymond said. “So we want to involve the folks who know what it’s like day in and day out to send your kids to public school to welcome them home off the bus. Those voices shouldn’t be forgotten.”
While parents figure out what’s next, day by day this week, more details will unfold.
“First and foremost, safety, safety, safety, safety. We know that that old plan worked, so that’ll be the safest way to get kids back in the school building,” Abdelahad said. “If we have to do it a different way, safety first and foremost, whatever that looks like, and then we can figure out the fallout after that.”
JCPS said Tuesday will be a workday for all JCPS staff. A final decision on whether classes will resume Wednesday will be announced on Monday.