Schools in the Jefferson County (Kentucky) district remain closed as administrators try to fix the bus route problems that created a "transportation nightmare" last week.
The bus snafu on Aug. 9, the first day of classes for 2023-24, forced the school system to cancel classes the next two days for 96,000 students in and around Louisville.
The district announced Monday that students will be brought back to school with a staggered reopening plan. Elementary and middle school students will return Friday, Aug. 18, and high school students: will return Monday, Aug. 21, WLKY-TV reports.
The bus delays on Aug. 9 caused some students to arrive home at nearly 10 p.m., The Louisville Courier Journal reports. About 68,000 students in the district get to and from school via buses.
For the 2023-34 school year, Jefferson County was using a new bus plan, created by AlphaRoute, a firm that used artificial intelligence to cut the number of bus stops in the district by nearly half. The new plan had 600 bus routes and 13,000 stops.
But after the Aug. 9 snafu, Jefferson County School Superintendent Marty Pollio said the district had to add thousands more stops. He called the chaos on the first day a "transportation disaster."
Pollio says the district will implement technology allowing parents and schools to know where a student's bus is during the ride to and from school. He says the tracking app will help eliminate worrying for parents who want to know exactly where their child is.
The district hopes to have the tracking app feature ready by Friday. As for parents without a smartphone, they'll be able to call their child's school and find out where a bus is.
