Courier Confusion

How many kids got sent all over creation during Jefferson County Schools’ opening day?


It’s kind of amusing. The Courier-Journal doesn’t seem to be able to get its numbers straight about the number of kids who got home really, really late on the chaotic opening day of schools in the newspaper’s own home town.

On August 31, 2010, in “JCPS may delay new assignment plan for middle, high schools,” Courier reporter Toni Konz said 400 kids were impacted.

Back on Sunday, a Courier editorial said it was only 200 kids.

Of course, that Sunday editorial was trying to take a shot at State Senators David Williams and Dan Seum for being concerned enough about the mess in Jefferson County to propose a bill to protect parent and student rights to choose a school close to their home.

I guess when the Courier wants to take shots at legislators it’s perfectly OK to cut numbers in half whenever it suits the editors’ purposes. Or, maybe some of the Courier’s editors got too much of a dose of that “fuzzy math” our kids have been getting in KERA schools for the past 20 years.

By the way, I’d not be surprised if even the 400 number Toni Konz reported were actually low. I am hearing from parents who have children in other schools besides the three where the 400 kids supposedly got badly misrouted on opening day.

And, just today I heard that a bus that had been dropping kids from Cochran Elementary off at 5:15 PM or later suddenly dropped kids off without parents waiting a half-hour early at 4:45. Five year olds got to walk home, crossing busy Louisville streets, on their own thanks to this latest busing gaff.

If you are a Jefferson County parent who knows of other continuing problems with the busing program, let us know.