Round Rock ISD parents voice frustrations over elimination of several bus routes

ROUND ROCK, Texas - Parents voiced their frustrations at Thursday night's Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees meeting. They are upset over the elimination of several student bus routes.

Parents say the decision to eliminate bus routes will force their children to walk to school along roadways they describe as dangerous.​

What they're saying:

"They're just not at all safe for kids to walk. There's blind turns, there are no sidewalks, there's no lighting. I would never, I wouldn't ever send my kid on that route to school," Charissa Shuttleworth, a parent, said.

Many Round Rock ISD students who currently ride the bus will have to find new transportation to school starting this fall. For some, that could mean a walk of up to two miles along roads that parents say are unsafe.

"We live about 1.7 miles away from Spicewood Elementary. My daughter is six. That would mean that she has to walk 45 minutes either in the dark or in 90-degree temperatures," Prianka Desai, another parent, said.

"Round Rock ISD's expectation is for the kids to walk or bike to school, but there's no parent who would allow that to happen. It's just an unsafe route. So the alternative is to drive our kids to school. Unfortunately, that creates so many new problems. Most of us work. We live in areas with really high taxes. We need our jobs," Desai added.

The district's transportation department said the cuts are due to a reclassification of "hazardous routes," meaning those paths no longer meet the criteria for bus service.

"There have been no improvements to the road. There have been no improvements to the safety of the road and, as far as my knowledge goes, there have been no changes to the qualifications for what makes something a hazardous route," Shuttleworth said.

On Thursday, the district said it is removing "legacy routes" that do not and have not qualified as hazardous routes in years, adding it is continually working to ensure fair and consistent transportation, including re-evaluating routes.

"We actually transferred to Round Rock because we think the school district has historically been better than a private school. I would consider sending my kids back there," Desai said.

By the numbers:

Round Rock ISD released scoring sheets for two walking paths. This includes routes related to Laurel Mountain Elementary School and Canyon Vista Middle School.

The school district released the following statement about why roads were reclassified:

"Every family whose student's route is being eliminated was provided at least one alternative walking path for their children. Each walking path receives a score based on dozens of factors, including the presence of sidewalks and crosswalks, the steepness of the roadways, the width of each road and more. Round Rock ISD does not determine the type of road on a route. For example, whether a road is considered a ‘highway,’ ‘arterial,’ ‘collector’ or ‘local’ road is determined by definitions provided by the federal DOT. Those determinations are not made subjectively by Round Rock ISD staff."

You can view the scoring sheets below:

Canyon Vista Middle School

Laurel Mountain Elementary School