Hays CISD designates 'hazardous' traffic areas, but parents concerned over road near high school

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – The Hays Consolidated Independent School District’s Board of Trustees approved a list of hazardous traffic zones so it can receive additional funding from the state for students to access bus services.

There are around 2,500 students in the district living in hazardous traffic areas, according to the board. 

The Texas Education Association allocates $1 per mile to a school district, for students who live in areas more than two miles away from a school, said Hays CISD assistant director of transportation Cassandra Behr. A school district has the ability to designate areas as “hazardous routes,” if it is less than two miles away from the school and could be unsafe for a student to walk.

This allows a district to get additional funding for bus services for those students, Behr said. 

“Hazardous is anything under two miles [from a school] that would be an unsafe path for a child to get to school. Generally, if the parents choose for their child to walk to school [but would require] walking on a freeway, crossing a major road crossing, or walking over railroad tracks,” Behr said. 

On Monday, the Hays CISD board of trustees removed some areas considered hazardous and added others to its list. Some areas lost their designation because “there is now a safe path for them to get to school,” Behr said. 

The amount of money the district gets for hazardous routes depends on how much funding it gets for non-hazardous routes. Generally, a district will get around 10% of the non-hazardous miles budget for hazardous routes, she said.

Hays High School crossing concerns

Jack C Hays High School is on Jack C Hays Trail in Kyle, Texas. This road was considered hazardous, but this year was removed from the list, Behr said. 

Still, students park in a new development across the road from the High School, around eight minutes away from a crosswalk, and cross to school from there.  

“These kids are trying to navigate and essentially play human Frogger after school,” said Christina Bell, a parent of kids who attend the school. “It's just so dangerous.”

Behr said the reason why the road lost its hazardous designation was because of the crosswalk. Still, she understands many students are not taking the time to cross safely. 

 “Our suggested safe-to-school path is for them to walk down to Koehlers Crossing and cross there at that crosswalk,” Behr said. “Students like to take the path of least resistance. So that is not their preferred path to get there,” she added. 

Behr said she would like a crosswalk in front of the new development, but that is challenging because it’s a state-owned road.

“We continue to have those conversations when we have those opportunities,” Behr said. “We know where the students would like to cross and so we want to recommend it.”

For parents, they continue to hope changes to the road will eventually be made. 

“I just hate the fact that it's going to take something completely tragic [for something] to be done,” Bell said. ”Why not, as the adults in this situation, do something to prevent a serious accident."