JCPS Busing

It goes back to segregation and public schools that were historically separated by blacks and whites.

That's a great synopsis.

Here's a [i]Louisville Magazine[i] article that does a good job matching the old case with the new case. It was printed just before the Supreme Court ruled on the latest case which brought the housing income issue into play. There's also a timeline at the bottom of the article.

http://www.loumag.com/articledisplay.aspx?id=23141292

I remember doing a big paper in college on busing, specifically relevant to Louisville. This was before the latest Supreme Court decision. I'm really interested in the topic/debate, but not having kids, I don't think I truly understand the day-to-day consequences of busing. That being said, the root of the problem is segregated housing. Not sure how we are going to integrate school populations when we live in segregated neighborhoods.

For evidence, take a look at this map:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/5011003858/in/set-72157624812674967/

[Robin Garr]

So I guess the question is.... Is the resulting racial balance worth the long bus rides? It would be interesting to hear what the kids who have to suffer the commute have to say on the topic. Does anyone have any comments/info from them? I honestly haven't paid that much attention to the public discussion.

Bear in mind that the original public discussion was in the early 1970s, in the close aftermath of the civil-rights battle and when there was still plenty of residual segregation around and, even in border cities like Louisville, some foot-dragging and opposition. The merger of city and county schools in that setting made strong action a slam-dunk.

The city is still somewhat segregated by neighborhood but far more diverse now than then, and as I mentioned, the schools got better for quite a while.

I covered a lot of this for the old Louisville Times, so I'm pretty familiar with the first 10 or 15 years of it, but I don't feel competent to gauge how it's working now, but I'm pretty sure that if no measures were taken to ensure some kind of diversity, we'd end up the way we were back then: Great schools in well-off neighborhoods and crappy schools in poor neighborhoods. That's not a recipe for a healthy city. On the other hand, crappy schools in all neighborhoods aren't much good either, so where do we go from here?

I do feel, based on the vantage point I've had, is that it's worth some effort to keep our city from slipping back to more intense segregation, which can certainly happen de facto if not de jure. But it's problematic because, in no particular order, the newspaper has gone downhill, city government seems to have lost its enthusiasm, the chamber of commerce/Greater Louisville Inc doesn't seem to be an effective part of the discussion, state government is deadlocked by a Tea Party Senate, and the recent firing of a short-term school superintendent who was hired from a much smaller school district that wasn't diverse at all ... all these things do make me wonder who's in charge here.

... all these things do make me wonder who's in charge here.

Man, no one is in charge...of anything...you oughta know that by now.

[Robin Garr]

Man, no one is in charge...of anything...you oughta know that by now.

D'oh!

Theories and conclusions from this thread.

The good schools in rich, mostly white, neighborhoods.
The crappy schools are in poor, mostly black, neighborhoods.

Why? Parenting, funding, better teachers, better facilities?

We take kids from the good schools, ship them to the crappy schools, and take kids from the crappy schools to the good schools; this improves schools how?

Raises average test scores at the crappy and lowers them at the good?

If the problem is with the school, why change the students? If the problem is with parenting, why change the students? If you are a crappy parent or too busy to properly parent, then moving the child farther away will only compound the problem. Busing children doesn't improve schools. It might give some children a better opportunity at learning, but at the expense of another. And I'm guessing if you're a white kid in a crappy school you're just out of luck.

Take a look at these numbers and anyone tell me if this can possibly be the right thing to do. I found this article dated May 2007 as part of a Target 32 investigation about bus accidents. The director of JCPS stated the the bus system averages 84,000 miles a day or about 14,000,000 miles a year. Those numbers seem really high but it is clearly stated in the article.

[Robin Garr]

We take kids from the good schools, ship them to the crappy schools, and take kids from the crappy schools to the good schools; this improves schools how?

Recognizing that you weren't around for it, whippersnapper , these are discussions that dominated the public agenda in the 1970s. Fundamentally, your summary somewhat misstates it. It was more like "send just enough kids around to mix things up and create a similar demographic mix at every school."

To be quite blunt about it, as long as the "good" schools were situated in the "good" neighborhoods, particularly in an even more heavily segregated city, the secret was that all the money went to the "good" schools and all the top teachers went to the "good" schools, and all the parents who could afford to support strong extra-curricular programs were at the "good" schools.

Mixing it up broke this system and leveled the playing field. And it actually did seem to be working, for a while: Money and teachers and active parenting did seem to spread out through the system. I don't know if it would work now, but it did then, and to the city's credit, only a relative handful of bigoted parents took their kids to outer counties or private schools.

Mixing it up broke this system and leveled the playing field. And it actually did seem to be working, for a while: Money and teachers and active parenting did seem to spread out through the system. I don't know if it would work now, but it did then, and to the city's credit, only a relative handful of bigoted parents took their kids to outer counties or private schools.

Ouch! I hope you aren't saying that all parents who decided on other schooling options at that time were bigots?!?

[Robin Garr]

Ouch! I hope you aren't saying that all parents who decided on other schooling options at that time were bigots?!?

I'm saying that from the point of view of reporters who covered busing at the time, the relatively small percentage of parents who left the county, mostly from Okolona, Fairdale, PRP and Valley Station to Bullitt County, appeared to be motivated by a strong desire not to let their children attend school with blacks. "It's too far to go on the bus" was the usual reason given by those with sufficient social graces not to tell the truth (many actually did so); but the demographic pattern and the fact that 90 percent of parents weren't so motivated made it pretty easy to interpret.

As I said in another post, looking back on those days, it's to the city's credit that most parents and kids recognized that it took a strong measure to right a wrong, and participated in the community effort. That's where we seemed to differ from Boston.

Ouch! I hope you aren't saying that all parents who decided on other schooling options at that time were bigots?!?

I'm saying that from the point of view of reporters who covered busing at the time, the relatively small percentage of parents who left the county, mostly from Okolona, Fairdale, PRP and Valley Station to Bullitt County, appeared to be motivated by a strong desire not to let their children attend school with blacks. "It's too far to go on the bus" was the usual reason given by those with sufficient social graces not to tell the truth (many actually did so); but the demographic pattern and the fact that 90 percent of parents weren't so motivated made it pretty easy to interpret.

As I said in another post, looking back on those days, it's to the city's credit that most parents and kids recognized that it took a strong measure to right a wrong, and participated in the community effort. That's where we seemed to differ from Boston.

Imagine facing the JCPS system telling you that your 5 year old would be spending hours on a bus each day going to school completely across town. You both work full-time - meaning 50 to 60 hours each week - in the opposite direction of the school. I promise you - there isn't a bigoted bone in either of my parents. "It's too far on the bus" - too much time on the bus - too long of a day for a 5-year old - was the reality they faced. The general idea of desegrating the schools sounded great. But as young parent to a 5-year old in 1977, they made the decision to go to Oldham County and NOT attending school with blacks had nothing to do with it.

[Robin Garr]

But as young parent to a 5-year old in 1977, they made the decision to go to Oldham County and NOT attending school with blacks had nothing to do with it.

Heather, I can't speak about individuals, because I don't know them. But the overall position of the majority of parents who left the district in the '70s was pretty obvious. That's really all I can say. The vast majority of parents, and kids, stayed, and I don't think most of Louisville's 30-somethings turned out any the worse for wear.

If the busing situation doesn't improve, I can guarantee my husband and I will be looking into Oldham County, or surrounding counties very seriously. It has absolutely nothing to do with skin color, and everything to do with not wanting my kid having to endure an hour long bus ride, both ways. The school day is entirely too long for some of these kids. They get up at 5 am to catch a bus, so they can be at school by about 7:30 am, then they have another hour bus ride home. It's ridiculous. I'd rather the 54 MILLION budgeted for busing was spent on improving ALL the schools. Unfortunately, as has been stated, parental involvement, as well as lack thereof, has a huge impact on the success or failure of students. So, how do you go about getting all parents involved? Until that happens, busing is pretty much pointless.

[Robin Garr]

I hear you, Michelle, and as I said in other posts, I wouldn't presume to address the situation today. It appears that for whatever reasons the quality of JeffCo schools has plunged, and if we had kids I'm sure I would have similar concerns in 2010.

The argument I'm making here is simply that I don't think busing can be blamed entirely for the shape the schools are in. Something happened in local governance (and media?) that changed the game about 15 years in.

If the busing situation doesn't improve, I can guarantee my husband and I will be looking into Oldham County, or surrounding counties very seriously.

In the beginning of busing, my parents bought in an independent district-- so we could walk to school, or ride our bikes-- instead of spending the 2 hours a day on a bus. I am incredibly grateful that they were able to make that choice-- and that I went to school w/ kids from my street and neighborhood. As a parent, my son went to an Oldham County school that didn't meet his needs, then private school for 7 years, then Eastern High School for 4 years. Our public schools (especially high schools) have challenges that I can't see will ever be fixed-- even if neighborhood schools are allowed again. The kids that are already so far behind grade level, home lives that none of us would wish for a child, as well as transportation problems for parents to be involved.
As a Realtor, selling a house in Jefferson County, and being asked the question "where will my child go to school?" should be a simple answer, but leads to sounding like an idiot, since I can't really answer that, if they are going to public schools. I hope the new superintendent has some better answers to our system, because it is seriously flawed. The people who teach, and work in our schools do amazing work everyday, but often w/ little or no support from the parents who expect the schools to "fix" their children.

Imagine facing the JCPS system telling you that your 5 year old would be spending hours on a bus each day going to school completely across town. You both work full-time - meaning 50 to 60 hours each week - in the opposite direction of the school. I promise you - there isn't a bigoted bone in either of my parents. "It's too far on the bus" - too much time on the bus - too long of a day for a 5-year old - was the reality they faced. The general idea of desegrating the schools sounded great. But as young parent to a 5-year old in 1977, they made the decision to go to Oldham County and NOT attending school with blacks had nothing to do with it.

This is what we where faced with last year. We can see Middletown Elem. out our window, but got assigned to a school on s35th st(?) My 5 year old would get on a bus at 6:20 and return home @ 5:40ish. No thanks! Thankfully we can afford private schooling,

If we spend $54M annually on transportation, I would say half of that would be a good start on improving under performing schools.