As the sun peeked above the horizon, FWISD mother Adrienne Haynes watched kids walk warily alongside speeding cars, creep through construction barriers and hesitantly make their way across makeshift crosswalks.
The FWISD students slowly made their way to their neighborhood school.
Haynes petitioned Fort Worth ISD for two years to bus those children in her Stop Six neighborhood rather than have them walk through construction near Loop 820.
On Sept. 11, buses finally began stopping near her neighbors’ homes.
Fort Worth ISD added three new school bus pickup locations serving students at Maudrie M. Walton Elementary, Dunbar High School, Young Men’s Leadership Academy and J. Martin Jacquet Middle School after parent advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth requested transportation services again this month.
The district will add these stops to its list of hazardous routes, so students living in the affected area and within 2 miles of their campus can be transported to their school.
FWISD’s board of managers approved the 2026-27 hazardous routes designation Sept. 8, allowing transportation for students who face dangerous traffic or a high risk of violence while walking there.
Texas law permits districts to request additional transportation funding for students if walking could expose them to hazardous traffic conditions or a high risk of violence. Hazardous traffic conditions can include freeways, expressways, bridges and other major roadways.
Walton, Dunbar, Young Men’s Leadership Academy or Jacquet were nowhere on the list provided to managers. The four campuses serve the historically Black Stop Six area. Black students make up a majority of enrollment at Walton and Dunbar and about 4 in 10 students at Jacquet and Young Men’s Leadership Academy.
Haynes asked for transportation in 2024 as construction around Loop 820 complicated students’ walks to school. The district told her that students living within 2 miles of school were not eligible for regular bus service, she said.
Haynes kept calling. She contacted city officials and schools and brought the issue to the school board.
“I wasn’t asking on behalf of just me and my kids. I was asking for the community as a whole,” Haynes told the Fort Worth Report.
FWISD eventually provided transportation for Haynes’ children, but when she tried to get it done for other children in her neighborhood, she was told their families would have to contact the transportation department individually.
“That’s when it became problematic,” Haynes said.
At a community meeting in August, Haynes raised the issue with managers Laurie George and Luis Galindo. George notified Haynes and Parent Shield that hazardous-route transportation was scheduled for consideration at the Sept. 8 board meeting.
Haynes looked at the list and noticed her neighborhood missing.
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, the founder of Parent Shield, contacted FWISD on Sept. 4 to request transportation for students at Walton, Dunbar, Young Men’s Leadership Academy and Jacquet, district spokesperson Evan Anderson said.
Just east of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and Maudrie M. Walton Elementary, students cross through construction underway beneath Loop 820 to get from the neighborhoods to schools on the other side of the highway on Sept. 18, 2026. A dirt path and the road are separated by a concrete barrier. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America)
Director of Transportation Rufus Huckaby looked around the area that day. He observed significant construction, a pedestrian walkway with barricades and two crossing guards directing students under the Loop 820 bridge at Ramey Avenue, Anderson said.
District officials met with Parent Shield on Sept. 10, Haynes and Anderson said.
Haynes told managers on Sept. 8 that they shouldn’t approve hazardous-route transportation while leaving Stop Six students off the list. Superintendent Peter Licata said the district didn’t want students walking through dangerous construction areas and would address the concern.
Two days later, Haynes and Dorsey-Hollins arrived at the transportation department. Haynes expected another discussion about whether service was possible, she said.
Instead, FWISD proceeded to map the stops, assigned a bus and determined pickup times.
“I was shocked when they said we’re starting it tomorrow,” Haynes said.
And they did.
The three stops are on Vel Drive. One for Walton students, one for Dunbar and Young Men’s Leadership Academy students, and one for Jacquet students.
Any student living in the affected area is eligible for transportation at one of the three stops, Anderson said. He did not provide the number of newly eligible students.
The stops will eventually be added to an existing bus route, Anderson said. FWISD also plans to add the locations to its official hazardous route list and report the service for state transportation funding.
Haynes was glad to see the district move from providing transportation to individual students to making it available throughout the neighborhood.
She snapped a photo of the bus stopping on its first day of service. Her husband called several days later to tell her that the elementary bus was waiting in the neighborhood.
“I was ecstatic,” Haynes said. “The fast response made me feel hopeful.”
But she isn’t finished. She wants to be sure that students in her neighborhood who attend other schools or programs of choice have a safe transportation option.
“Parents can’t stop until someone’s listening,” Haynes said.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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