HUDSONVILLE, Mich. -- Sarah Koetje said walking her daughter and two other little ones down a 55 mile an hour road with no sidewalk was already dangerous. With snow on its way, she said the snowbanks will force them to walk in the road.
"In the morning and then after school, this road is just crazy busy," Koetje said. "People don't go slow... it's 55 [miles per hour], but they go faster than that down these roads."
Koetje said she started the school year getting her three kids up in the morning to walk her oldest to the bus stop about an eighth of a mile down Baldwin Street.
"[Drivers] don't move over when you're walking down the road, and it's just kind of scary," she said.
Her 5-year-old daughter, Belle, attends kindergarten at Bauer Elementary. Koetje said she's asked the transportation department to pick Belle up at the end of her driveway. However, she said she was told all the department could do was switch to the other side of the road so she wouldn’t have to cross. Koetje said that doesn't fix the dangers of walking on the road, so she’s been driving Belle to school since late September.
"She likes to ride the bus. So I want her to ride the bus," Koetje said. "I can bring her to school which is more of a hassle. I mean, it's not far. It's just... loading the kids up and bringing her every morning."
Koetje started a petition on change.org to gather support for her cause.
District superintendent Doug VanderJagt told FOX 17 the district hasn't heard from Koetje since Sept. 21 when she was told she can go through the appeals process. Koetje said she didn't do that because transportation staff gave her no hope.
"And he said, 'But honestly you're wasting your time' is what we were told because the same outcome would come of it. Nothing," she recalled.
Koetje said, "I would love to get it changed. That's the end goal is to get it back to the end of our driveway so it's safe and to keep it there every year so [when] my other kids get older, we don't have to deal with the same situation."
She said the district picked her daughter up for preschool at the end of her driveway last year. This year, that changed.
VanderJagt declined an interview. However, again, he said Koetje hasn't filed an appeal. He added that the buses can't stop to pick up every child at the end of their driveway because of timing and staffing.
