Will DISD get the Poor Kids a School Bus?

Brad Watson at Channel 8 did a great piece about kids at the new JT Brashear elementary school. (Story and video here)

For those that aren't familiar with the area, Brashear is next to the brand new Hampton-Illinois Library branch across from Kiest Park.

These kids used to attend Daniel Webster, but when the new Brashear school opened the kids' bus service got cancelled.

Brad is right - there are many sex offenders along the kids walking routes. The light blue and dark blue illustrate the two possible walking routes. Each dot in this map represents a sex offender. The red 'X' is the new school; the star is the Parkwoods apartment complex. (Click to enlarge)



There are also several other large apartments complexes next to Parkwoods.

Since the kids don't have a school bus, they have to "face it" like one kid said in the news clip.

It's bad enough that some complex residents were fire victims earlier this year; now they have to worry about their kids making it past a bunch of sex offenders.


If that wasn't bad enough, some parts of these routes don't have sidewalks. Exactly how dangerous does a route have to get before somebody does something?!

We just got a new DISD School Board Trustee - here's hoping she steps up and makes her presence felt in a big way. Dr. Hinojosa talks big - but hopefully he feels as strongly about kids' safety as he does other issues and finds these kids a bus immediately!

I was not encouraged by the lukewarm answer that Brad got from the DISD:

After News 8 inquired, the Dallas Independent School District said, "The district will review the data and reassess the situation and add a new bus for that route if needed."

Let's see what happens.