Texas parents have claimed the school district has place their children in danger after new school zones split at least one neighborhood that has left a group of area children without bus service. After this recent restricting, half the children in this particular neighborhood they are not permitted bus service since they only live a few miles from the elementary school they attend. To get to school, the children must cross a series of busy streets. “The district is expecting that my children are going to walk down Eldorado past all this traffic, cross all the lanes of Eldorado to get to the south side of Eldorado, and then they’re expected to also cross Independence,” said one concerned parent. The district has offered the alternative of using the tunnels underneath the roadways, but parents are concerned about the nearby wooded area and the wild animals that are frequently seen throughout the area being in the tunnels.
A 12-year-old girl suffered minor injuries during a hit-and-run incident shortly after departing her school bus. The driver was trying to overtake another car when the girl was struck by passing car’s left side-view mirror. Florida authorities reported that the girl stepped off the school bus and crossed the street when a vehicle heading in the opposite direction passed another vehicle stopped for the school bus and hit the girl. The vehicle, which was described as a black sedan, continued southbound and fled the scene.
Parents and district officials are fed up with the handling of the busing at West Ada School District. With only three days into the new school year, students are still not entirely sure which bus they ride and there is no indication that the information is going to get any clearer. Due to an aging fleet, the West Ada district signed with a new company, which would provide new buses. “We went with it because it saved us over $16 million over five years,” said the director of community relations for the district. Before, the district managed the bus system, and it paid for a computer system for routing that provide an online portal for parents to locate their child’s bus information. When the new company came into service, they took over the system, but decided not to continue using the same routing system due to price. They promised to have a new one up and running by the start of the school year. A January target came and went, as did a July deadline. Now, well into August and kids already back at school, the company as failed to provide any answers to solving the problem.
In an attempt to evade authorities after being pulled over for a routine traffic violation, a 28-year-old central Florida man was killed when he crashed his motorcycle into a school bus. Police tried to pull the victim over after he crossed double-yellow lines, but due to a suspended license, the victim fled, running a red light and crashing into a Polk County school bus. The bus had just dropped off students at the local elementary school, so there were no students aboard when the accident occurred. The bus driver reported no injuries. While the victim was wearing a helmet, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
