Hastily called school board meeting on JCPS magnet busing outrages community

Some community and school district leaders say they are outraged after school board members announced a hastily called special meeting to change the district's busing system without allowing public input.

Board members were already set to meet next week to vote on a new transportation plan for next year, after they chose to delay their vote during their March 26 meeting. At the time, board Chair Corrie Shull said they needed more time to digest the critical investigative report regarding what went wrong on the first day of school, along with time to hear from the community after the district put out a survey less than a week before the board met.

Since then, the district invited community organizations to a meeting scheduled for Thursday, where the district's racial equity test would be applied to the different transportation proposals that have been presented.

Jefferson County Public Schools Chief Equity Officer John Marshall criticized the board for moving up its meeting before those tests could be done with community input.

The test is referred to as the Racial Equity Analysis Protocol, referred to as REAP.

The district's Diversity, Equity and Poverty Department "WAS to do a community REAP this Thurs," Marshall said on Twitter Tuesday evening. "BTW, the REAP is meant to be a guardrail. It was chosen by the (board) to help them make (racially) equitable decisions."

Then on Wednesday morning, Marshall commented on the fact that Wednesday's board agenda does not allow for public comment.

"NO. The community CAN'T speak & give voice tonight. WHY? The agenda was set by the 3 requesting the meeting & doesn't include speakers. It COULD'VE BEEN ADDED to a special meeting agenda. But public comment only applies to regular meetings-per POLICY. This too would FAIL A REAP!," Marshall tweeted.

The board was initially told by district leaders that cutting magnet student transportation was the only option they came up with that did pass the REAP. But that information was misleading, according to community members who were in meetings when the test was done. The option failed the test twice, according to Michelle Patrick of the NAACP.

More: Which JCPS magnet schools would be most impacted by ending busing?

"It seems the district ignored our concerns and went ahead with the least desirable option," Patrick told the board during its last meeting.

The meeting was requested by board members Linda Duncan, Chris Kolb and Joe Marshall, according to district spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan. None of those board members initially returned calls from The Courier Journal, though Kolb responded Wednesday afternoon saying board members were not informed about the planned community meeting and that the district's REAP is an internal process, not a community process.

"It is very disturbing that Dr. Marshall seems to be intentionally misleading the public or unknown reasons," Kolb said.

Additionally, Kolb said Board Chair Corrie Shull indicated on April 1 that he would call a special meeting.

"I assumed he was working diligently to do what he indicated he would do, since that is his responsibility as board chair," Kolb said. "I heard nothing whatsoever from the chair after April 1 and I still haven't. As it seemed clear that the chair did not intend to do what he indicated he would do, others on the board had to make sure the special meeting would indeed take place as quickly as possible to allow transportation as much time as possible at this late date to plan for the first day of school this fall."

Shull has not responded to calls or messages from The Courier Journal.

If magnet busing is eliminated, it would impact 16,000 students across the system. A Courier Journal analysis found schools in western and southern Louisville would be most impacted because they serve a large number of bus riders who are also from impoverished households. These students are less likely to find alternative transportation and could be forced to enroll in other schools.

At Whitney Young Elementary in the Shawnee neighborhood, nearly 3 out of 4 students (73%) are bus riders that live in impoverished households, according to data provided to The Courier Journal through an open records request.

The magnet schools with the second and third highest rates of economically disadvantaged bus riders are also in the West End (72% at Central High and 60% at Johnson Traditional Middle).

Louisville's NAACP branch scheduled a press conference ahead of the board's meeting, also noting the lack of community input into how the district will move forward. Raoul Cunningham, the branch's president, called on the resignation of Superintendent Marty Pollio, along with some board members.

"The Jefferson County school district is in crisis," Cunningham said. "It is suffering from a crisis in leadership. It is suffering from a crisis in trust and truth-telling. It is suffering from a crisis in competence and compassion."

Lyndon Pryor, president of the Louisville Urban League, wrote to The Courier Journal that the decision to move up the board meeting and exclude public comment is an "intentional move to exclude the public and undermine the perspectives of the parents and students most impacted by these decisions is white supremacy in action."

"These board members have decided they and district leaders know what's best for Black, brown, and low-income families without their input or active participation," he continued. "They can't wait a mere twenty-four hours for the results of the community REAP. They cannot wait four days to hear the voices of the community after they have been given a chance to digest whatever new proposal(s) comes forth. White supremacy says that the best answers aren't found in the "other" but reside with the norm."

More: Could Central High keep transportation if JCPS ends magnet school busing?

The move comes after JCPS Chief Operations Officer Rob Fulk sent a letter to board members last week that was critical of their decision to delay their vote.

"The auditor is not the JCPS transportation department," Fulk said. "If the primary message from the audit is to listen to our transportation department, then hear them: We need a decision for next year so that we do not get further behind in routing."

Fulk's department has argued cutting magnet busing is the only way drivers will be able to get kids to and from school on time this year because the district has a driver shortage. Throughout this school year, bus riders have routinely arrived at school late each day, which has caused the loss of more than 7 million instructional minutes, according to JCPS data. Internal emails show buses are regularly late picking up students, too, sometimes as late as two hours.

The current system, district leaders say, is already disproportionately hurting students of color and students from impoverished backgrounds.

The district buses about 44,000 students of color and most are missing an average of 14 minutes of instruction each day, according to JCPS spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan. "Some are arriving more than an hour late on some days," she said, while also pointing out that there are far more Black students bused to resides schools (about 19,000) compared to about 6,000 Black magnet bus riders.

It is still unclear what exactly board members will vote on at the meeting. The agenda shows the board will vote on a transportation plan, but it doesn't show any details about the plan.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. at the Van Hoose Center, 3332 Newburg Road.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Hastily called JCPS board meeting on magnet busing outrages community