Lee County students ride school bus for first time after lengthy district battle

For the first time this school year, a local mother can put her children on an actual school bus to get to class.

Shannan Santiago’s two children, Alexander and Alessandra, rode the school bus for the first time on Monday.

“I’m very grateful,” Santiago said. “I’m glad it went smoothly. I was a little apprehensive about it not being updated in the app, but we’ll make sure that gets updated as soon as the school district opens.”

Santiago has been fighting with the Lee County School District to provide her children with a bus.

The Lee County School District initially said Santiago’s kids cannot have a school bus because they do not live more than two miles from San Carlos Park Elementary.

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

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

Their measurement was just under two miles.

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

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

“They said we lived too close, but clearly other kids got it that were closer,” Alexander said.

Santiago was nervous this morning because her children were still listed as walkers in the Where’s the Bus? app.

She couldn’t monitor the bus and see when it was on its way.

She was even more nervous when the bus was 20 minutes late.

When the bus finally came, her two children had no problem getting on the bus.

“I’m excited to ride the bus, but my brother isn’t. He’d rather go in the car,” Alessandra said.

“Hopefully they liked it because it will keep going,” Santiago said. “They’re going to ride the bus every day.”

State law says if children live within two miles of their school, the district does not have to send a bus to pick them up unless the roads are considered “hazardous.”

The state, however, does not consider roads without sidewalks “hazardous.”

Just like Santiago, Ruby Salgado’s street in Lehigh Acres has no sidewalks.

She said Harns Marsh Middle School told her her home is 1.8 miles away, so state law says there is no bus.

Still, she thinks it’s too dangerous for her 12-year-old daughter Joanna to walk.

“There’s no sidewalk. There’s a lot of houses being constructed, and you know that the water there is accumulated and the grass is tall, so you can’t even see where you walk in, and I don’t know, it’s just scary. I can’t send my daughter to walk like that,” said Salgado.

Salgado can’t drive, so her only option? Pay $65 a week for a private transportation van.

“We’ve been paying that, but every week, if you do the math, it’s more than $400 a month. It is hard. Sometimes, I feel like I can’t even breathe because of all the stress. The economy is so bad,” she explained.

Salgado sent multiple emails to the school, begging for help; in one, she wrote, “It is impossible to pay for the van. We are struggling to even find food to buy right now.”

“They emailed me back, and one called me, and they said, ‘My hands are tied up. I can’t, we can do nothing about it,'” she said.

WINK News reporter Claire Galt spoke with state representative Mike Giallombardo Monday morning.

Giallombardo said the state could revisit the two-mile law and make exceptions for roads without sidewalks.

WINK News is reaching out to the district about Salgado’s case.