TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — When Brighton David walked to Farnell Middle School last year, it wasn’t just a routine 15-minute trip. It felt, he said, like taking his life in his hands.
“It’s 15 minutes treacherous both ways, because you can get hit by cars many times,” said David, an eighth grader who went without a bus for the entire school year.
Watch full report from Jada Williams
Dozens of Farnell students whose homes sit less than two miles from the campus where told they can no longer ride the bus to school. Parents and children in the neighborhood say the decision ignores the dangers of Race Track Road, a four-lane corridor posted at 45 miles per hour, and they want the district to consider safety before distance.
“I’ve almost been hit a couple of times because of careless drivers on their phone,” David said. “It’s also hard trying to cut through the cars and not having like road rage.”
He said most of his classmates are driven by parents, but he doesn’t have that option. “I kinda gotta walk because my parents work,” he said. “I’m very appreciative that we got a bus, and since we had it, since last year, it’s helped a lot. But now that they’re taking it away, I’m kind of scared to, like, drive again.”
"It's aggravating," said Stephen Emery.
The West Hampton parent said the issue came to light suddenly. That's why he decided to reach out to Tampa Bay 28.
“(The driver) just started naming kids on the bus and said, text your parents, you’re not allowed to ride anymore,” said Emery.
Emery said the neighborhood, which is tight-knit and sits within sight of Farnell Middle, was blindsided. His house measures about 1.86 miles from the school. His neighbor’s is 1.9. Neither qualifies under the strict “two-mile rule.” But across the street, students whose homes fall just over the line are allowed to ride.
“They decided that only half of this very close-knit neighborhood was allowed to ride the bus, and they’re going by an exact two-mile distance from the school,” Emery said. “So some kids … can look down the street and see their friends, and they get to ride on the bus.”
That distinction, parents said, is both unfair and unsafe.
“It’s aggravating, and especially since there’s friends that they grew up with, or they’ve been riding this bus since kindergarten, and now they’re saying, you walk, you ride the bus,” Emery said. “At this age, I mean, you don’t want to create that division between kids.”
Hillsborough County Public Schools told parents the two-mile rule is mandated by state law. Under Florida Statute 1011.68, school districts are only required to provide bus transportation for students who live two miles or more from their assigned school. If a student lives closer than two miles, parents are responsible for getting them there, unless the route is officially declared hazardous.
The state defines “hazardous walking conditions” in Statute 1006.23. Roads may be classified as hazardous if they meet certain criteria, such as:
- Lacking a sidewalk at least four feet wide.
- For high-speed roads without curbs, sidewalks must be at least three feet from the pavement.
- Students being forced to walk along roads with multiple lanes, heavy traffic, or dangerous crossings.
This summer, lawmakers passed Chapter 2025-59, which tightened the definition of a safe walking path:
- Walkways must be at least four feet wide and not part of drainage ditches or swales.
- On roads with a posted speed of 50 mph or higher, the walkway must sit at least three feet away from traffic.
- Exceptions exist for quiet residential streets with speed limits of 30 mph or lower or roads with fewer than 180 vehicles per hour during school travel times.
While Race Track Road is posted at 45, parents argue the spirit of the law still applies.
“There seems to be plenty of room,” Emery said, pointing out the bus has 75 seats but just 73 riders. “We asked them, they said there’s 75 seats and there’s 73 kids, so they’re not really overcrowded. So we can’t really get a straight answer.”
For David Naymick, the safety stakes are clear.
“If they follow the rules of what they expect of them, it is between 1.75 and 1.9 miles up Reptron, down Race Track, down Nine Eagles and then down the road to the school,” Naymick said. “With a bunch of drivers turning out of businesses … a lot of those drivers will not look westbound before they turn, because there’s no traffic coming from that direction, except for our youth.”
He said cars have already struck students’ bikes.
“This is not something that’s just a speculation. It actually could happen. We could lose a youth if we don’t actually pay attention to this.”
“As a past Cub Master, as a Scout Master, as a person who was an HOA president, a lot of my emphasis has been on youth safety and protection,” Naymick said. “There’s been thousands of hours spent on it, and I’m willing to spend thousands more, because it’s number one, as a parent.”
The district’s transportation department points to the law. Parents point to logic.
“They’re referring to their guidelines and about how, per guidelines, the two-mile rule is in place,” Naymick said. “And I did advise them that those same guidelines probably have something about safety being the first priority of our youth.”
Emery said the problem isn’t that the law exists, but that officials are applying it mechanically.
“If you’re going to come to the neighborhood, pick up all the kids. You can’t single them out because of a couple hundred yards between their houses.”
Both men said the solution is simple: let the children who clearly fit on the bus ride the bus.
“I think that the county could look more to solutions than just a lot of effort into different excuses,” Emery said. “We all pay a lot of taxes, we should be able to get bussing, and it shouldn’t be divided.”
Parents also say their fight could be a test case for the rest of Hillsborough County, or even across Florida.
“100 percent, if it was all the safe gated community sidewalks, it would be feasible,” Emery said. “But we’re just one community. How many other in Hillsborough, in Florida, are facing this same issue?”
For Naymick, it comes down to urgency. “It actually could happen. We could lose a youth if we don’t pay attention.”
And for Brighton David, the eighth grader, the stakes are personal.
“I’ve almost been hit a couple of times,” he said. “I’m kind of scared to, like, drive again.”
Parents who believe the walking path to school is unsafe, especially those living within two miles, can complete the district’s ‘Parent/Guardian Request for Review of Hazardous Walking Concern’ form and submit it to HCPS’ Transportation Safety Office for a review and decision.”
“You know, it might just be time we take a look if HOAs are really even necessary.
Maybe we should just do away with homeowner associations as a whole.”
South Florida lawmaker Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) says it may be time to do away with homeowners associations altogether, as more Floridians speak out about rising fees, costly lawsuits, and even arrests tied to HOA disputes. He said this week that he is considering filing legislation in the next session that would abolish HOAs statewide.
