The Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force heard from a couple dozen community members at Louisville Male High School. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

LOUISVILLE — More Louisville residents expressed skepticism about a legislative task force’s intentions amid fears of dismantling Jefferson County Public Schools Tuesday evening.?

While addressing the Efficient and Effective School Governance Task Force, students, teachers, parents and more called for different solutions, like allocating more adequate funding for public schools, giving students incentives to become educators themselves and creating better access to school resources, like transportation.?

Melissa Nelson, manager of education for Metro United Way, said that residents repeatedly said they opposed breaking up the school district out of skepticism. She referred to another speaker’s comments about taking the committee at its word that it wants to help the school district and added “I really hope that’s true.”?

Nelson pointed out some positives she sees in JCPS, such as mental health resources and cultural groups to give students a sense of belonging within their schools.?

“My biggest drawback with JCPS is they don’t work well with others, and I think that is because they are constantly under threat,” she said.?

The task force, which includes government and citizen members, met at Louisville Male High School on Tuesday. About a couple dozen speakers addressed the group within an hour. It was the second of two meetings held to get community feedback in Louisville area schools. The task force typically meets in Frankfort at the Capitol Annex.?

During the last meeting, co-chairs of the task force said deciding to split the district, which serves almost 97,000 students, was not under its purview. Some Republicans have said in the past that “the district is too big to properly manage.”?

One task force member, Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville, told reporters after the meeting that while he did hear skepticism about the panel, he also heard several speakers invite the task force to help JCPS. Neal also said that whatever decision is made in the future about the school district won’t be at the hands of the committee, but the entire General Assembly, which is mostly made up of lawmakers who do not have a connection to Louisville and JCPS.?

“I’m hopeful that the legislature will come together and do the right thing,” Neal said.?

Co-chair Sen. Michael Names, R-Shepherdsville, told reporters that he did hear some new points to consider during the meeting, such as making changes around disciplining students with behavioral issues. Nemes said he wished the task force could have more community meetings to hear more feedback as much was focused on the question of splitting up the district.? “I want to hear: What we can do to help, what the Jefferson County Public Schools need, what do the students need, what can be done better? That’s what we want,” Nemes said. “What can we do better? What can we help them with?”

The task force, which was created by a House resolution, must make any recommendations by Dec. 1 in a report to the Legislative Research Commission. The resolution also directs the task force to only review the governance of Kentucky school districts with more than 75,000 students. JCPS is the only district that meets that criteria.

The group’s next meeting will be in Frankfort on Monday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m.?