'Eye-opening' report into JCPS' busing disaster released ahead of magnet transportation vote
The investigation into what went awry with Jefferson County Public Schools' new transportation system has been completed months ahead of the contractual deadline, with the 248-page report released online Monday.
The "eye-opening," report, as Board Chair Corrie Shull referred to it, was attached to the board's agenda for tomorrow's meeting at the request of Shull. Board members, he said, received the report last week and gave district leaders until Friday to respond to its findings.
"I do think it is a pretty eye-opening report and it carries an imperative for the board to really ensure that the district is on the right track as it relates to overcoming our challenges in transportation," Shull said.
The investigation and subsequent report was done by Prismatic Services, a K-12 education consulting firm, that the district paid nearly $225,000. The firm assessed JCPS' project management system, system implementation, personnel competency and communications between October and January.
The report provides 16 recommendations to the district, though it notes there could have been more if it weren't for "inconclusive or insufficient" data.
For example, the report states, "the available data seem to indicate that JCPS staff is not sufficiently sensitive to the need to comply with state data retention requirements."
The report found that when implementing the new student assignment plan, the impacts on transportation were not adequately considered, transportation department leaders were not adequately involved in this planning and the bus routes developed by AlphaRoute software "suffered from myriad design flaws."
Flawed internal and external communication contributed to the first day of school's busing disaster, the report outlines.
Drivers and their supervisors weren't given "the opportunity to talk through what new procedures or training they might need," in terms of new start times and new routing software.
"Had drivers known in March 2023 that many routes would be un-mirrored and depot use would decrease, driver supervisors might have organized additional days for drivers to practice runs, meetings to ensure drivers understood they would not be repeating morning runs in the afternoons, or even paid drivers to do 'familiarization' drives around new areas," the report states.
Additionally, it notes, when "concerns regarding lack of stops, bus assignments, and the bus routes bubbled up in July 2023, JCPS did not respond by adding staff to the 485-RIDE phonebank in anticipation of the likely increased call volume. Instead, it staffed the August 9th phonebank with the same number of staff as usual."
Investigators conducted a survey of principals in which about 100 responded and of those, 77% answered that they had many concerns after first seeing the bus routes for their schools, and of those who expressed concerns about the routes, 44 said they went to their assistant superintendent, 32 to bus compound coordinators and a few directly to former Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins.
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But, "internally, JCPS did not have ways of listening to communications that would have provided early warnings of oncoming school start problems," the report states. "Some staff reported being ignored when they sounded alarms. When interviewed regarding activities leading up to August 9th, multiple staff noted a negative environment in the central office that discouraged questions and collaboration. Post-incident, some employees noted that they feared retribution for providing Prismatic with information. These communications faults appear to be a problem of corporate culture."
Of the principals who responded to the anonymous survey, more than half chose not to disclose which school they work at.
The report also took issue with the new bell schedule and its unnecessary burden on the transportation system, as well as the district's failure to keep accurate data regarding bus ridership.
The report found issues with some of the start times used with the new bell schedule this year. Most schools operate on one of three start times, but there are a few other school start times scattered throughout those that serve far less students and stressed the system.
“Although difficult to tease apart the various factors that contributed to this problem, the use of mini-tiers that provided limited obvious benefits but which complicated transportation operations appears to have been a problematic factor,” the report states.
It doesn’t appear district nor AlphaRoute leaders used historical bus ridership data to explore the option of just three start times, according to the report.
The AlphaRoute team did request that data after the start times were determined, but it appears the district gave the team “a database of all students eligible for transportation and did not include estimates of likely actual ridership rates based on historical data.”
Prismatic investigators requested that data and found it did not exist.
“JCPS leaders reported that actual counts of the number of students riding buses were not collected on a regular, districtwide basis, with some staff indicating they thought the data would be of little help,” the report states.
One leader told investigators that “the district relied on “gut feeling” regarding ridership,” the report continues.
Because the audit was requested by board members, "it was their decision on when to release and discuss the report," said JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert. Releasing the report at the next scheduled board meeting is best practice, Shull said.
Board members are tasked with making another decision on busing tomorrow, with Superintendent Marty Pollio recommending they approve ending transportation for magnet students.
The full audit is attached below.
JCPS Transportation Audit by Krista Johnson on Scribd
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 'Eye-opening' report into JCPS' busing disaster released ahead of magnet transportation vote