They have had to cancel school, possibly through mid-next week (according to what some teachers were told) due to the fact that they can't get the bus routes sorted. They had students on busses until 10 pm on the first day of school.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/11/us/kentucky-schools-transportation-disaster/index.html
The main problem is the bus driver shortage. In 2015, they had 1,000 drivers. Now they're down to 650 (and according to teachers on Reddit, some quit after the debacle Wednesday.) JCPS did not lose 1/3 of its enrollment in that same time period. There is no magic technology, no amazing engineering firm that can create a system of bus routes to compensate for 1/3 of your needed drivers being missing. Sorry. That's just not going to happen.
So they are going to have to change something. Either they have to stop allowing certain kids from riding the busses, making it free lunch riders only, and reduce it to the routes in the lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods, plus special ed, or figure out a way to magically hire 350 drivers in the next 2 days (not likely). I hate the idea of them forcing kids to only go to neighborhood schools. I'm a former teacher. But they're going to have to do something. Everyone is angry at the superintendent and annoyed at the bus routes and acting like this is an organizational problem with kids not knowing their bus stops. It's not. It's simple math. You cannot have 1/3 of your workforce quit and expect the 2/3 who are remaining to carry the load for that missing 1/3 without there being problems.
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