PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Parents in the neighborhood of Fairway Springs in Pasco County are upset that their children aren’t allowed to ride the bus to school anymore. The school district told them they live within two miles of their schools, but parents said those calculations are wrong.
“I could not let my son cross 54 and Little Road, 10 or 12 lanes of traffic, one of the most dangerous roads here,” exclaimed Jailene Kelly, whose son will be attending J.W. Mitchell High School this year.
A group of parents told ABC Action News that their children have been riding the bus to Seven Springs Middle School and J.W. Mitchell High School for years now, and even though they haven’t moved, the district now said they live too close.
“This year we were denied... I asked why. They said because I live within two miles of the school,” said Dan Bower, whose child goes to Seven Springs. “When I GPS using Google Maps like almost everybody in America uses, they said 2.1 miles.”
It’s a group of about 10 children whose parents said the school bus will now pass to and from as it transports children living in the back of the neighborhood.
According to Florida law, public schools are allotted funding to transport children “living 2 miles or more from school.”
“I was trying to figure out why we're getting denied and saying that we're 1.84, 1.87 miles away when I can't find anything that measures that distance,” exclaimed Duane Kortas Jr., whose daughters go to Seven Springs.
ABC Action News mapped the walk on an iPhone maps app from the closest student’s home and found it’s a 45-minute walk at 2.1 miles.
We then drove the distance, crossing State Road 54 and down Little Road… it took six minutes to go two miles at 3 p.m. when the iPhone weather app also said “real feel” was 100 degrees outside.
“I’m a single mom,” Kelly said. “I'm not sure you know exactly what I'm going to do.”
Kortas is an EMT and has switched to the night shift to be able to drive his children to and from school.
“I've personally in the ambulance gone to multiple accidents at 54 and little road intersections that our kids have to cross,” Kortas said.
The Pasco County School District told us in a statement that “a new neighborhood with a road created another access to the school.”
They also said, “We are not suggesting that students should walk… but rather that families who live within two miles of the school are responsible for planning their transportation.”
“The only way I can get less than two miles is drawing a straight line, which means my child would have to walk through six lanes of traffic, walk through Chili's, walk through a couple restaurants, you know, you'd have to walk through walls just to get less than two miles,” Kortas exclaimed.
These parents said if it’s a bus driver shortage issue, they want the district to use their taxpayer dollars to raise driver pay and incentives.
We also asked the district if parents could appeal or file a hazardous walking form.
They told us that they review questions, but hazardous walking conditions only apply to elementary students.
The district also told us that “crossing guards are prioritized for our youngest and most vulnerable students, students in elementary school.”
Statement from Pasco County Schools:
The district is not calculating transportation eligibility in a different way this year. Florida Administrative Code provides how districts measure distances between home and school, and the district shall determine the shortest pedestrian route. Sometimes different mapping programs show varying distances and are not the shortest pedestrian route. We are continuing to use the routing software that we have used for several years.
I believe that the situation from the Facebook post is a new neighborhood with a road that created another access to the school. This puts some families (living in a nearby neighborhood) within two miles of the school. We communicated this to families in March so they could make plans for the new school year.
We are not suggesting that students should walk (or how they should walk) but rather that families who live within two miles of the school are responsible for planning their transportation, as provided by Florida Administrative Code.