A St. Petersburg grandmother and a local father say their kids have to dodge traffic on some of Pinellas County's busiest roads just to get to class, and now the St. Petersburg NAACP is pushing the school district for answers. Esther Sanni says her goddaughter has to cross 4th Street North to reach school, while Benjamin Brown says his own children face the same risk crossing 9th Street. Neither parent says there's a crossing guard or anyone else there to help.
The St. Petersburg NAACP is asking the Pinellas County School District for more options to keep students safe when commuting to school, according to Tampa Bay 28. Sanni, who is president of the St. Petersburg chapter of the NAACP, reached out to the district in September because her goddaughter has to cross the very busy road to get to school. “What is the safety option for parents and students that have to walk across busy streets when there is no crossing guards or anyone to assist them with that?” she asked, per the station's report.
A Transportation Option That Disappeared
Sanni says a transportation department employee told her that space-available transportation, a program that lets students who live less than two miles from their school ride the bus if there are empty seats, is no longer available to parents. She said the program was not necessarily an option to the community anymore, and that after her call to the transportation department went nowhere, she reached out to the Pinellas County School Board multiple times without getting a response.
Sanni said she believed empty seats could still be available if space was really the issue, and what she wants is simple: a bus in the area that can pick up her goddaughter so the child can get to and from school safely every day. The school board has said student enrollment has decreased, per the same account, though it's unclear how that factors into current bus availability.
District Points to a 2019 Policy Shift
The district told the station that it has limited space-available transportation since 2019 to help consolidate routes and operate more efficiently, and that safety is the district's number one priority. The station's report also notes that Florida law does not require districts to transport students who live within two miles of school, with an exception for certain elementary students facing hazardous walking conditions as defined by law.
Under Florida Statutes, that exception only covers public elementary students through grade 6, and it applies to specific conditions: an uncontrolled crossing where traffic exceeds 360 vehicles per hour per direction during school travel times, a posted speed limit of at least 50 miles per hour, a road with six or more lanes excluding turn lanes, or the absence of an adjacent walkable area at least four feet wide. Once a hazardous walking condition is formally determined, the school board must provide transportation to the students affected, and the responsible government entity has to correct the problem within a reasonable period, with 90 days to say whether that fix will land in its next five-year transportation work program.
Parents Describe Daily Risk on 9th Street
Brown told the station that when students, including his own children, cross 9th Street to school, it's very dangerous. He wants more options for students to be picked up closer to home so they don't have to cross busy roads at all, and he said more people should be in place to help keep students safe.
Separately, Pinellas County Schools says it provides arterial bus transportation for magnet and career academy students who live more than two miles from their schools, and it transports ESE students whose IEP requires it, along with Section 504 students who need specialized transportation, to their zoned schools. The district also maintains a list of school crossing guard locations available for download on its website.
The concerns raised by Sanni and Brown echo a broader push across Pinellas County to make routes to school safer for kids on foot or bike. A county Safe Routes to School effort prioritizes new sidewalk segments based on factors like network connectivity and proximity to bus stops, parks and schools, according to Pinellas County. It's not an isolated concern elsewhere in Florida, either — parents in St. Johns County have raised similar alarms about kids walking and biking through traffic to reach Magnolia Oaks Academy, according to First Coast News.
