LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With the first day of school Aug. 8, the phone lines are open at Jefferson County Public Schools, and calls are coming in.
What You Need To Know
- Jefferson County Public Schools has launched a hotline to help parents with questions about their child's bus route
- Parents and guardians can call 502-485-RIDE
- Phone lines are open Mondays through Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Students return to class Thursday, Aug. 8
The district is staffing a call center for 502-485-RIDE. The hotline helps parents confirm information about their child’s bus stop and request changes if necessary.
It is operating two weeks before and two weeks after the start of classes. Rachel Droze, JCPS executive administrator of communications and community relations, said nearly 80 staffers from various departments are taking turns answering calls.
The hotline went live last week, and more than 200 calls were answered before noon Monday, July 29.
"We’ve answered 190 calls on our English line,” Droze said.
Droze added she expects the call volume to increase before classes begin.
"As we do near closer to the start of school, though, we'll probably back up just a little bit," she said. "We do have this line well-staffed, but we do expect there to be some sort of queue that forms as we get closer to the first day."
Not only did the call center launch earlier than last year, Droze said the district is also staffing Spanish-speaking agents and reminded families if they didn't sign up for a bus stop by July 22, the district is in a "freeze period" and a bus stop won't be confirmed for several weeks.
“We want to make sure you are starting to prepare and get transportation plans in place for your child to get to and from school for those first couple weeks until our routing team is able to assign you a stop,” Droze said.
485-RIDE is open for calls Mondays through Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.