JCPS paid for a transportation audit. Then they ignored the results and failed 20,000 students.
The Jefferson County Public School Board voted to end busing for magnet and traditional schools Wednesday night with two exceptions – Western and Central High Schools. The debate centered on the bus-driver shortage and the fact that students continue to arrive late to school each day. Kids are losing time in the classroom and waiting long after school for the bus to take them home. All of which was addressed in the transportation audit that JCPS commissioned.
The question I cannot get out of my head since the vote is why they paid Prismatic nearly $225,000 for an audit of the transportation plan if they were going to ignore the results? Because what happened at the April 10 special school board meeting was a complete disregard for the audit recommendations.
Prismatic’s founder Tatia Prieto, Ph.D. repeatedly stressed at the March 26 board meeting that JCPS had time and options encouraging the board to do something other than voting to remove busing options for magnet students. One of the things that Prismatic recommended — and that JCPS staff said they could do as part of management’s response to the audit — was readjust school start times.
Why was this option not discussed or considered last night before the vote?
Letters to the editor: JCPS board has no clue what they're doing voting to end busing for magnet schools
The other recommendation was to continuously tweak routes to see what small adjustments could offer big gains. Things like looking at buses that were transporting fewer than 20 students to see how the route could maximize space and be more efficient. Prieto noted that this “reworking of the vendor-provided routes could be accomplished without board approval, and could take place all the way up until the drivers are handed their route sheets.”
JCPS did not consider viable recommendations
She stressed that this could have been an ongoing strategy since August when the “transportation disaster” happened at the start of the school year. At the very least it could have been happening since November when Prieto said her team made those suggestions.
Audit recommendations were not contingent on first eliminating magnet transportation. That part of the audit was also clear. Why isn’t the board spending their time determining what incremental improvements could be made, per what the audit recommended. Especially the start time adjustments. “Moving the start times of a few schools could make a major difference in routing,” Preito said.
Time and again Prieto had pointed to solutions that could be implemented and time and again she stressed that JCPS did not have to scrap the whole thing. The audit underscored how fixable this transportation debacle really is.
The board tabled the vote for discussion on March 26 while Preito was present and community voices were permitted. The relief in the room was palpable. Preito had given the community hope. But during the unexpected April 10 “special meeting” tensions returned. The board bickered and community members shouted out in frustration since they were not allotted time to speak. People begged the board not to move forward with a hasty vote.
The elected JCPS board did not listen this time. Not to the community they silenced and certainly not the consultant company they hired.
Transportation audit proves it. JCPS failed on the most basic tasks.
Instead, they scrapped busing for magnet and traditional schools. The board declared defeat when they didn’t have to, shrugged their shoulders, took a vote and failed 20,000 JCPS magnet students.
Our kids deserve a school board that can take constructive criticism and work together to remedy the issues as advised. The JCPS board made this mess. They should at least have the decency to do the work to clean it up.
If you’re going to ask for help and pay for solid consulting, take the advice. Don’t leave Louisville families holding the bag.
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp is the community engagement and opinion editor for The Louisville Courier Journal. She can be reached via email at [email protected] or on social media @WriterBonnie.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS transportation audit provided options. Board members ignored them
