JCPS board members vote to end magnet transportation for all but two high schools

In a specially-called meeting that outraged community leaders, Jefferson County Board of Education members voted to end busing for the vast majority of the district's magnet students, while sparing those at two high schools.

The two magnet schools that will continue to receive transportation are Central High and Western High — which is slated to become a full magnet school next year. These are the only two magnet high schools where at least 75% of students are from impoverished households.

Grace James and W.E.B. DuBois academies will also retain transportation, because the district categorizes them in a different category than all other magnet schools.

All other magnet students - of which at least 14,000 relied on busing this year - will have to find private transportation to school or enroll in their resides school.

This plan, according to district leaders, will still result in 4-5 million minutes of lost instruction time. Under the current system, leaders expect students to lose more than 12 million by the end of the year.

It took the board more than two hours before reaching a vote, with a packed room full of community members, JCPS employees and elected officials who were vocal throughout the meeting about their displeasure with the idea of taking busing from any magnet students.

Board members also argued at various points throughout the meeting and at the end of the meeting, one top district official was escorted out of the room after approaching a board member who criticized him.

F. Bruce Williams, pastor of Bates Memorial, said the decision by three board members to call a special meeting without allowing the public to comment before the vote was "disrespectful and manipulative."

"This is not acceptable. It is not right. It is not just," Williams said. "It is a slap to the face of this community."

"I’m not going to be told where to be and where to speak," he later added. "This is not a plantation."

Williams pointed to the recent transportation audit report that criticized district leaders for not adequately including the transportation department in planning and found multiple employees who were fearful of speaking out against district leaders for fear of retribution.

"This is more of what the audit says - you don’t listen," he said.

District transportation leaders were asked several questions from each board member and during Sarah McIntosh's time to ask questions, she yelled at Board Chair Corrie Shull, at one point accusing him of interrupting her after he restated her original question, with transportation leaders not directly answering her.

"I’m gonna take my time and I’m going to ask my questions," she told Shull.

At another point, board member James Craig said Shull failed to let the board know about a community meeting that was slated for Thursday. Shull said he told Craig about the meeting in an email. While Shull allowed members of the audience to speak to board members without interruption on numerous occasions, he called for order when board members began to raise their voices and argue amongst themselves.

There was significant conversation about whether or not this plan passes the district's racial equity test, which ultimately led to Chief Equity Officer John Marshall showing up to the meeting and approaching board member Chris Kolb.

Ahead of the meeting, Kolb accused Marshall of intentionally misleading the community in tweets about a community meeting that was slated for Thursday. During the meeting, Kolb again questioned Marshall's statements and asked why he wasn't at the meeting to answer questions.

By the end of the meeting, Marshall had arrived and approached Kolb, raising his voice to the point that district police officers stepped between the two men. As Marshall headed to leave — with the officers behind him — he turned around right at the exit and began heading back toward Kolb, causing others to push him back out of the room and officers to tell him to leave.

Given the magnet application window has already closed and families have received acceptance letters, the district will now have to figure out which students will turn to another school. Superintendent Marty Pollio said families will be polled and boundary lines might need to move if some resides schools become overcrowded.

Shull asked if the student assignment and school choice departments were involved in meetings regarding transportation changes and transportation leaders said they were not.

Joe Marshall, one of the board members who requested tonight's meeting, said he hoped transportation leaders could show they've checked all the boxes to prove to the community that cutting magnet transportation is the only solution. He said finding out those departments haven't weighed in on this change, proves that they have not.

The vote was split along racial lines. Board members Kolb, McIntosh, Craig and Linda Duncan voted in favor of this plan, while Shull, Marshall and Gail Strange voted against it.

"It is a mystery to me that no one seems to care that what we're doing currently is causing 30K students ... to miss instructional time, on a daily basis in a lot of cases," Kolb said ahead of the meeting, noting that a majority of those students are of color. "That to me is unacceptable and says we have to act."

"Everybody on the board knows that there is no alternative except for the options that are being presented to us tonight," he continued. "Some people would like to not face up to that fact."

Is no more busing for magnets right? Submit your letter to the editor here.

The current transportation system has been a major failure for countless families this year since the first day of school when the last student wasn't dropped off until nearly 10 p.m. Since then, bus riders have continued to arrive late at school daily and are stuck at school after dismissal waiting for buses to arrive. District leaders say the majority of those bus riders are students of color.

Board members were 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 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.

Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, leaders of Louisville's NAACP called for the resignation of Superintendent Marty Pollio, along with some board members.

"The Jefferson County school district is in crisis," NAACP President Raoul 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."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS board members vote to end magnet transportation for all but two high schools