Lee County School District approves bus service after mother’s fight

The big yellow school bus is a necessity that Shannan Santiago’s kids now get to have.

“Between me dropping them off in the morning, and my mother-in-law picking them up after school, it’ll make it a lot easier,” Santiago said.

The Lee County School District said Santiago’s kids can have a school bus because they live more than two miles away from San Carlos Park Elementary.

The decision wasn’t always that simple.

“We did start back in June communicating with the school and trying to get this worked out,” said Santiago. “I went through the whole process of doing the appeal and getting denied”

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Santiago used drone video and filmed herself driving the distance from her house to the school.

She came up with 2.1 miles, but the district didn’t budge.

Their measurement was just under 2 miles.

“On a specific topic, you can only appeal at one time, and then the decision is final,” Santiago said.

WINK News reached out to the district and state lawmakers on Santiago’s behalf, and those efforts paid off.

Santiago told WINK News reporter Sommer Senne that a school district transportation employee went to San Carlos Park Elementary himself.

“He went to the school and actually watched the parent drop off and walking situation to the school,” she said. “He told me that since he wouldn’t expect his own kids going through the bus ramp, he wouldn’t want to see the public doing it.”

Dr. Denise Carlin, the superintendent of the Lee County School District told WINK News that “Transportation and the parent were able to work it out and together, agreed it was over two miles from her home.”

Now, as the family prepares to ring in a new year, they’ll also ring in a new ride to school.

“It was really heartwarming for the kids to finally get a bus after all this time,” Santiago said.