PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Parents in Pasco County are voicing their outrage over what they say are unsafe conditions for students who walk or bike to school.
One of Jamie Johnson’s top priorities is getting her student to school safely.
“I’ve rearranged my work schedule, and so I currently take my son in the morning,” said Johnson. “I have been able to take a few other students whose parents were not able to rearrange their work schedule because I didn’t want them to be hurt.”
Johnson has a student at Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel. Because she lives within two miles, busing isn’t an option.
When it comes to walking or biking, she said it’s also not an option because it’s not safe.
“There are no sidewalks,” said Johnson. “There’s a grass area, and then also because of everybody moving here and the influx of people, there’s a lot of traffic and it’s very fast-moving, and so those two things together really make it an unsafe situation.”
Busing is not an option for families who live within two miles of their school, and this school year, the district cut out courtesy busing at the middle and high school level because the state doesn’t provide funding for that and they’re dealing with a bus driver shortage.
“Ideally, it would be nice to have that back, but if that’s not possible right now, it would be nice to have sidewalks put out there. It would be nice to have crossing guards or somebody to direct traffic during that time,” said Johnson.
Three schools sit along Wells Road. Several parents reached out to ABC Action News over their growing concern with the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks along Wells and Curley Roads.
“There was an accident yesterday on Wells Road. A student who attends Wesley Chapel High School, I know that a student was hit,” said Steve Hegarty with Pasco County Schools. “My understanding from talking to the principal today is they expect the student to make a full recovery. Still, it’s concerning that a student would be hit on their way to school.”
The Pasco County School District acknowledges these are legitimate concerns and points to a shared responsibility to make sure kids can get to school safely.
ABC Action News asked if there’s anything the district can do to address the concerns in this area outright.
“We do what we can, but we also work with the other, again, shared responsibility. We work with the county all the time about where we think there should be sidewalks. We also have some plans in the next several years, working with the county, to provide some funding for that sort of thing,” said Hegarty.
ABC Action News reached out to every school board member and county commissioner. The County pointed to a sidewalk discussion at an April Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting while asking anyone with specific concerns to reach out, saying customers can submit a traffic request via customer service.
Until there’s a change, parents pray that students stay safe.
“Worst case scenario, they could really be hurt or die because there are cars that go by there at 60 mph or more,” said Johnson.
