Lee County Schools provides bus for kids walking 2 miles without sidewalk

A mother won a safety battle with the Lee County School District after her kids had to walk over two miles to school without a sidewalk.

WINK News has been following this story since Shannon Santiago contacted us and said her kids had to walk to school on Mantanzas Road despite being over two miles away from San Carlos Park Elementary.

Two miles is the state’s threshold to get a bus. The part that scared this mom the most was her kids, ages seven and nine, walking to school without a sidewalk.

But now, changes are coming as the district has taken action.

The Lee County School District determined Santiago was right since her home is over two miles from the school.

Representative Mike Giallombardo said he is glad that the kids now have a bus.

“When I talked to the school district they told me that they’re going to dig into it, figure out the distance and and everything along with it. And they did exactly that. Our superintendent’s amazing. She’s doing a great job. I know Cape Coral is growing so fast, and we don’t have a ton of sidewalks either. So, it’s an issue. It’s kind of a growing pain for the area. I mean, we’re going to be at a million people in just a few years here in Lee County, and we really have to start looking at infrastructure and figuring out sidewalks and roadways to ensure that the residents of Lee County are safe when they’re traveling to and from school, especially, our kids,” said Mike Giallombardo.

Santiago is sure there are other parents in the country going through what she did, and according to her, the process wasn’t easy.

She had appealed for a school bus multiple times, and until now, the district wouldn’t budge. Despite it all, she said she’s happy her kids will be safe.

“It was really heartwarming for the kids to get a bus after all this time. I was just mostly grateful that, like all the feedback that we’ve gotten from people and that people have been following this story, it really helped bring the light to the right people to get action to be taken,” said Santiago.

As for the two-mile state law, there is an exception. Buses can pick up children if they walk in hazardous conditions.

However, under the current law, roads without sidewalks are not considered hazardous.

Giallombardo mentioned other concerning areas in Lee County. He said he hopes the state, county, cities and towns can work together to make the areas safer.