JCPS bus situation: All students dropped off by 7:43; Pollio 'pleased' with effort

After six days of missed instruction, more than 60,000 elementary and middle school students are heading back to Jefferson County Public Schools on Friday morning, with families wondering whether the day will go better than the first day of school did.

We'll provide live updates here. We're also asking you to tell us how it's going by using the form below.

8:12 p.m.: All students are dropped off

JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said all students were droped off by 7:43 p.m.

JCPS spokesperson Mark Hebert said the time "is on par with the all-clear from the first day of school in 2022."

Hebert said that by 7:15 p.m., only 17 students were waiting to be dropped off.

“The short-term adjustments we put in place were successful and we continue to work on more substantial, long-term solutions," said Marty Pollio, the JCPS superintendent. "I’m pleased with the effort and look forward to welcoming our high school students back on Monday."

Friday's final drop-off was more than two hours ahead of the final drop off on the first day of school, which was at 9:58 p.m.

5:30 p.m: Last buses leave the compound

The last six buses left the Nichols Compound at 5:26 p.m. to drop off children, according to a Courier Journal reporter at the site.

Mark Hebert, a spokesperson with JCPS, told the reporter the buses left 10 minutes late.

Meanwhile, the last buses at Hawthorne Elementary and Lincoln Elementary left 90 minutes after dismissal, Courier Journal reporters said.

4:09 p.m.: Last bus in this round arrives

The last bus in the 4 p.m. transfer wave arrived to the Nichols Compound at 4:07, according to a Courier Journal reporter there.

A second group of buses was leaving the compound at 4:13 p.m.

JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said this set of buses actually left one minute early.

3:24 p.m.: Some schools dismiss students early, but buses stay on schedule

Parents of Bloom Elementary students were notified this morning through a message signed by the school principal Jack Jacobs that the school would dismiss students earlier in an effort to help with drop-offs.

And a message from Thursday night asked parents to be at the bus stop 20 to 30 minutes early, and asked them to "REMAIN" there even if the bus is late.

"Being that we are the first to dismiss, we shouldn't have a lot of late buses," the message sent Thursday said.

But, some parents apparently were not aware of the early dismissal and did not arrive at the bus stop early, one parent told The Courier Journal. He said his daughter told him the bus driver had to keep driving around while parents arrived at the drop-off sites.

"While the bus arrived at the same time as the first day of school, my child had to ride on the bus nearly twice as long as Day 1," he said.

But Mark Hebert, a spokesperson with JCPS told The Courier Journal that even though some schools dismissed students earlier, the buses did not start their routes until the scheduled time.

2:25 p.m.: Student dismissals begin

Students who began school at 7:40 a.m. today were released at 2:20 p.m., beginning the afternoon bus runs around the city.

Parents can call their students' schools for tracking information or the district bus hotline at 502-485-RIDE.

All JCPS students should be out of class by 4:20 p.m., with the biggest dismissal waves coming at 2:20 p.m., 3:20 p.m. and 4:20 p.m.

12:50 p.m.: Morning bus stop missed, parent avoids afternoon dropoff after warning from JCPS

Last week, Andy Billups waited with his daughter for her bus stop for two hours. Eventually, he said, the third grader got so bored that she started crying and saying, "I just want to learn."

On Friday, they tried again, but her bus still didn't come. They arrived at her stop about 10 minutes before she was supposed to be picked up, around 8:24 a.m.

By 9:30 a.m., Billups decided to drive his daughter to Greathouse/Shryock Elementary himself.

He also received a phone call Thursday from JCPS about her afternoon drop-off, he said. The school advised Billup to make her a car rider, after getting information about delays while the buses were practicing their routes. Last week, Billup's daughter got home at 8 p.m., about two hours after she was supposed to be dropped off.

"Her afternoon bus was arriving at the school at 5:30 every day (when the bus drivers were practicing), and it's not supposed to be that late," he said. "So they just called us to warn us that she should probably be a car rider for the rest of the week or, the way they worded it was, 'For the foreseeable future you should probably pick up your child unless you want them to basically suffer for two hours on a bus drive and get home at like eight to nine o'clock.'"

Billup and his wife have been considering doing before and after-school care instead, but it would mean driving their daughter 20 minutes away and then driving an additional 20 minutes to work afterward. Plus, it would cost money.

"It just doesn't seem like we should have to do that. If we pay taxes and we're supposed to trust that the school system will pick them up at a reasonable time and drop them off," he said. "I don't know why we would need to pay someone just to avoid having to deal with this headache."

Billup has plans in place for his daughter to be picked up from school for the next three days, he said, but since her stop has already been missed twice, he is worried that her not riding the bus this week will cause the driver to continue to forget her stop.

10:58 a.m.: Parents concerned about afternoon dropoffs

On Thursday and Friday morning, JCPS officials warned that a 30-45 minute bus delay will be widespread in the afternoon.

Early Friday, parents of students at Highland Middle School received an email with approximate times that their children will be picked up.

School finishes at 3:20 p.m., but buses will arrive at Highland in increments starting at 3:45. One bus won't arrive at the middle school until at least 4:12 Friday, according to the schedule provided by JCPS.

10:35 a.m.: Waiting on Goldsmith's final bus

Goldsmith's last bus has not arrived, even though it normally only transports five students. The school starts at 9:40 a.m.

At 10:20, it was tracked on the app to be out in the East End by the Ford Louisville Assembly plant. A few minutes later, a parent whose two daughters normally ride that bus dropped them off, deciding to not continue to wait for the bus at their stop.

Goldsmith was a magnet school until this year, but students who had already been attending it could return this year – meaning they can ride a bus from anywhere in the county.

10:11 a.m.: A look into Goldsmith Elementary

At Goldsmith Elementary, seven of 13 buses arrived before the first bell. At 10:08, the school's largest bus showed up. Principal Jessica Carter said this type of delay is normal for the start of the new year. But when drivers were doing their routes Thursday without students, that bus still didn’t make it on time - arriving at 9:52.

That bus goes to two different schools in the morning, dropping dozens off at Goldsmith and then the remaining students at Klondike Elementary. A couple of Klondike students tried to get off at Goldsmith, but staff were able to redirect them back on the bus right away.

JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert showed that the new Edulog app was accurate in its tracking when searching for a bus pulling into the school.

10:01 a.m.: Last transfer running behind

The last round of buses at the Nichols Compound was 20 minutes late, said Mark Hebert, a JCPS communications manager.

They were supposed to leave at 9:30 a.m. following the transfer but actually left at 9:50 a.m.

8:15 a.m.: Nichols compound transfers

Transfers at the Nichols compound are underway.

The first buses arrived at Nichols just before 7 a.m., according to a Courier Journal reporter on site.

Transfers at the compound were supposed to leave at 7:05 a.m., but a few of the buses left about 10 minutes late. However, Hebert reiterated that they were expecting some lateness.

The last buses for the 8 a.m. transfer arrived at the compound at 8:06 a.m. and students began moving between buses immediately. During that transfer, one student left a backpack on her first bus but realized it before she departed on her new bus, and was able to go back and grab it.

By 8:13 a.m., the transfer was complete.

7:04 a.m.: Crash closes portion of I-265N

All northbound lanes on the Gene Synder Freeway by mile marker 32.4 near Westport Road are blocked, according to a reporter on site.

TRIMARC reported the crash at 6:31 a.m. and anticipates that the blockage will last about two hours.

How did we get here?

JCPS leaders have been working around the clock since deciding to cancel school just one day into the new year, realizing there were major issues with a new transportation system. Initially, the hope was that school would resume Monday, then Wednesday, but the district announced a staggered return would start at the end of this week.

High school students won't go back until Monday and it's unclear whether or not early childhood students will be able to start school as planned on Aug. 23.

What if my bus is late?

If buses are late, families should expect them to arrive within 30 to 45 minutes, spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan said, adding the district is asking families to give it this "grace period," before they start making calls to find out the location of their students' bus.

School and district employees will now be able to track where buses are. The district is advising that families first call their students' schools for tracking information. The district's bus hotline is another option and about 20 additional staff members have been hired to work in the transportation department's command center, which should mean shorter wait times when calling.

The number is 502-485-RIDE.

Callahan also urged parents to recheck their students' bus stop information on JCPS' bus finder portal, because some have changed.

Immediate changes the district has implemented ahead of Friday's busing include having extra buses and vans on standby that can deployed when a kindergartner doesn't have an adult at their stop for them or when a bus arrives late to a depot. These changes are meant to ensure drivers can continue on their route without significant delays.

Are you impacted by delays? Tell us here

About 25 buses also will have an extra JCPS employee riding with the driver. Referred to as "shoulder buddies," these employees will have a cell phone and GPS to assist the drivers and communicate with schools. More than 200 JCPS employees volunteered for the positions, according to a release from JCPS.

Those new employees will have a cell phone and GPS to assist the drivers and communicate with schools.

Come next week, the district should provide families with information about a new app that will allow them to track where their students' bus is. On the first day of school — when hundreds of students were stuck at schools and on buses late into the evening — families were enraged by the lack of communication about whether their child would be late and where they even were.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS updates: Bus delays expected as elementary, middle schools reopen