School board postpones vote on new busing plan after audit on route change disaster

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Education officials in Kentucky’s largest city delayed voting on a new busing plan after parental opposition and a recommendation to wait from a company that audited the district’s disastrous transportation changes to routes this year.

The plan recommended by Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio at Tuesday night’s meeting would have cut back on buses and eliminated transportation for 16,000 students in Louisville as a way to make up for driver shortages and bus delays, news outlets reported.

It came on the same night a firm that audited what went wrong with the district’s current busing plan addressed the board about its report, which was made public Monday.

The redesign of bus routes in the current school year turned into a logistical meltdown on the first day of classes in August, leaving some students on buses until nearly 10 p.m. That led officials to close schools until the mess was untangled the following week. The district used a Massachusetts-based consulting company that uses computer algorithms to map out courses and stops to reduce the number of routes in response to the chronic bus driver shortage.

An audit of those changes done by Prismatic Services found that administrators should have communicated more with transportation officials as they worked to simultaneously implement a new student assignment plan, a new transportation system and a new bell schedule. The 248-page report also found several flaws with the routes established by the consulting firm. It said transportation and school leadership tried to warn administrators.

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Prismatic Services founder Tatia Prieto told board members while answering questions at Tuesday’s meeting that she recommended not making an immediate decision on major transportation changes for next year.

“I do think the decision before you tonight ... is short on details I would want to know the answer to,” Prieto told board members.

Board Chair Corrie Shull said postponing the decision would give board members time to “digest” the audit report and see responses to a survey the district sent to families seeking feedback about the proposed changes.

Superintendent Marty Pollio said he agreed with that decision.

“A lot of this was new to us tonight, too,” Pollio said of Prieto’s comments during her presentation. “We had materials, but some of the stuff was new from Dr. Prieto’s perspective. I think it would be best for everyone to table the discussion.”