Every afternoon, Crystal Hampton leaves work to pick up her sixth grader from school. Hampton, a single mother, picks her daughter up from the Extended Day Enrichment Program, which her child attends at an additional cost, and drops her off at their home before returning to work.
Hampton lives with her three children in Suburban Heights, a neighborhood in northwest Gainesville. Living just under 2 miles from Westwood Middle School, her daughter is not eligible to ride the bus. Florida law only requires public school buses be provided for students who live 2 or more miles from their school.
Hampton initially requested courtesy bus service for her middle-schooler, but was denied. She then requested her child be allowed to walk to the nearest bus stop and get the bus there. This request was also denied, she said, with the county citing a lack of bus drivers.
“There's so many parents complaining, and it feels like nobody is taking it seriously,” Hampton said.
Transportation challenges were agitated by the Alachua County Public Schools’ rezoning that took effect this school year. Voted into place by the school board last March, the plan reassigned more than 3,200 students to new schools and approved the closure of three elementary schools, one of which closed at the end of last school year. The remaining two schools will close in 2028.
The adjustments forced families to navigate different bus routes and shifting transportation needs.
Hampton’s sixth grader could have ridden the bus to Fort Clarke Middle School, where she was originally zoned, but the recent change to Westwood Middle has rendered her ineligible due to her proximity to the school.
“There's not enough drivers, so it's frustrating as a parent because I'm like, ‘Who is going to do something about this situation?’” Hampton said.
Parent intervention has had some success.
Carson Stanton, the parent of a 9-year-old at Norton Elementary School, managed to get her daughter a bus after the rezoning added obstacles to her path to school.
Before the rezoning, Stanton’s daughter originally attended Foster Elementary School, which closed at the end of last school year. After being reassigned to Norton Elementary, her daughter was faced with a nearly 2-mile walk, which would have included an unassisted crossing at Northwest 13th Street, a four-lane road.
When Stanton applied for a school bus for the students making the commute, it was originally denied. The district told her the request didn’t meet the definition of hazardous walking conditions described by Florida law, she said.
The law defines a dangerous crossing as one over a road with a posted speed limit of 50 mph or greater or that has six or more lanes, not including turn lanes. School districts are legally required to provide bus transportation for students facing hazardous walking conditions.
The students were granted a bus after she continued to press the school board and superintendent, she said. The solution put an end to the monthslong back-and-forth, Stanton said, which she argued should have been resolved sooner.
“I should not be talking to the school superintendent or the school board about something that the transportation director should have been handling and elevating in their department,” Stanton said. “It just doesn't make any sense.”
James Sheppard, the executive director of operations, oversees transportation throughout the district. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment via email and phone call.
According to an email from ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson, the district serves about 28,000 students, and about 7,500 rely on district transportation.
The majority of routes are completed on time, Johnson wrote. The district is in the process of hiring more bus drivers, she added.
“Our focus is not only on addressing individual concerns but also on identifying patterns and developing solutions that strengthen transportation services across the district,” Johnson wrote.
Contact Julia Miller at jmiller@alligator.org. Follow her on X @juliamill30.
Julia Miller is a freshman journalism student at UF working as a general asignment reporter on the metro desk. This is her first semester with The Alligator and in her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading, and spending time with her friends.
