Parent speaks out after kids are forced to walk in street to get to PGCPS bus stop

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Thousands of students started the new school year on Monday. As students in Prince George’s County start school, WUSA9 is hearing some parent's safety concerns about bus stops. 

Two parents say their kids are forced to walk in the street because their neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks. 

“My kids or any other kids who live on this side of the subdivision have to walk in order to get to the bus stop… so they’re walking in the middle of the street," Prince George's County Public School parent, Lydia Sermons said. 

Every step of the way down Sacramento Street brings anxiety for Lydia Sermons. 

“They’re confronted with people who are leaving in the morning particularly during morning rush hour," Sermons said. "And those parents who are also rushing to drive their kids down the street and a block and a half in the street to get to the bus stop.” 

She believes it’s a safety concern for her kids to have to walk so far from their home. She also said it will be worse when there's inclement weather or when it's dark outside as they try to walk. WUSA9 decided to walk that same route that her kids will take. 

We first introduced Simmons over a week ago at one of the Prince George’s County Public School District informational sessions around transportation for the new school year. 

During the session she requested an additional bus stop. 

“The bus comes here, and this is where I’ve asked them to pick up my kids so they don’t have to walk all the way down and they manage coming through that tight street there but again you can see this is much busier," Sermons said. 

She said that request was denied.

“For me, safety takes priority over time and again not just for my children but any children,” Sermons said. 

She received this message referring to last year's audit and “one key suggestion was to increase the average distance between bus stops." 

We also reached out to the county, and its reply: 

"The safety of students traveling to and from school is our priority, and PGCPS conducts annual safety audits of assigned stops to identify safety barriers. 

Stop changes are considered when a stop distance exceeds policy, or when there is an extenuating circumstance that is determined to jeopardize student safety. Families can share safety concerns through the county’s online Transportation Resolution System (TRS) to have their concerns addressed. 

We ask for patience as we monitor TRS submissions over the first several weeks of school."

“I would think there’d be some type of flexibility there because when it comes to the life of a child if there’s an incident or someone speeding to get to work and a child is hit, you can’t fix that," Sermons said. 

According to the county website, parents can appeal the decisions on routes that are permitted safe. When it comes to Sermons she's dealing with the lingering thoughts of her kids as they start class Monday. 

“You feel a bit hopeless that you can’t change it," Sermons said. “At this point I’m not going to appeal because it was so simple, it could’ve gotten a yes but a no so I’m just going to tell my children to be safe.”