Mother drives children to school in back of pickup after district eliminates bus route

“Guys, load up!”

It’s 7 a.m. and Yvette Zuñiga’s kids and neighbors’ children are climbing into the back of her truck to get to Sergeant Roberto Ituarte Elementary School and a neighboring middle school two miles away.

The children are riding in the back of Zuñiga’s pickup because the school bus route the kid’s rode on last year was dropped this year. Zuñiga said walking along a busy stretch of Pebble Hills Boulevard is not an option.

“Before it was safer,” said Zuñiga, “Now, this is what I have to do.”

ABC-7 rode along with the kids under cramped conditions. “No, it’s not safe,” said 12-year-old Anthony Zuñiga. “Buses are safer than trucks”

Anthony Zuñiga told ABC-7 he was yelled at by one of the school’s resource officers. “He said he was going to give me a fine if my parents didn’t stop doing this,” the boy said, “We’re having to be a bus when the buses that we used to have got taken away from us.”

At least three school buses drive past the Zuñiga home. Parents say those school buses are for children with special needs and not available to their children.

A Socorro Independent School District spokesman tells ABC-7 the district has no plans to bring back the school route.

Assistant Socorro Independent School District Superintendent Marivel Macias said the reason the route was dropped is because conditions have changed, it is safer to walk to school, and the children live close enough to the school to walk.

“We looked at our routes, and by the guidelines, any students that live within the 2 mile radius, they are not qualified for transportation,” Macias said.

SISD’s solution for the walk to both schools is to have the students walk to a crosswalk a block away in the opposite direction of where the kids would normally walk to to get to the schools. “We do have a cross guard and a crosswalk in the area of Tierra Este and Pebble Hills and we actually have a person that is teaching our students that that is the correct route to take,” Macias said.

If the children were to walk, rather than ride in the back of a truck, they would have to walk a greater distance to get to their school. Zuñiga told ABC-7 the district’s solution means the kids will continue to ride in the back of her truck until a better solution comes along.

“They’re very strict with attendance and these kids have to get to school safe … you can see all the traffic on the main street the kids have to cross,” Zuñiga said, “I can’t have my six year old walk.”

According to the Ross Law Group’s website, under the current Texas Transportation Code – section 545.414 – a person is subject to a misdemeanor offense if they operate a pickup truck when a child under the age of 18 is in the bed of the truck. The offense is chargeable by a fine of up to $200.

The person will not be subject to the fine and offense in the following situations:

The person was operating or towing a truck in a parade or emergency; The person was operating the truck to transport farm workers from one field to another on a farm-to-market road, ranch-to-market road, or county road outside a municipality; The person was operating the vehicle on a beach; The person was operating the only vehicle owned by members of the household; or The person was operating the vehicle in a hayride permitted by law enforcement or governing body of the county or municipality.