NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville father is raising safety concerns about his children's school bus stop for the second time in two months after a close call crossing busy Granny White Pike.
On Monday, a pickup truck nearly hit his family as they crossed to board the school bus while it had its flashing lights on. The near-miss was the last straw.
Jeremy VanSlyke says walking his two children — ages 8 and 5 — to their bus stop along Granny White Pike is what he calls "a run-for-your-life situation."
"We have a dip, a hill, a curve, so the visibility is pretty bad," VanSlyke said.
The stop near Woodmont Blvd sits along a stretch of the 35-mile-per-hour road where there's no crosswalk, no pedestrian signal, and no sidewalk. One other elementary school student is also picked up at the stop.
"There's no crosswalk, there's no button to push. None of the cars would stop for us," VanSlyke said.
The location is new this school year, replacing the stop his children used last year, which was just a few steps from their house on their quiet residential road.
The new stop is part of system-wide route adjustments tied to changes to school start times at Metro Nashville Public Schools.
The family took their concerns to the school board Tuesday night.
"At this stop, a solid metal bollard protects a Civil War-era stone wall from distracted drivers," VanSlyke said to the school board. "Yet children waiting beside them have no sidewalk, curb, or barrier to protect them."
VanSlyke shared emails he sent to school transportation officials. He wants Metro Nashville Public Schools to restore last year's stop.
In a statement, Metro Schools said it is reviewing the situation and has offered the family a stop that would not require the children to cross Granny White Pike, though the walk would still be along another busy road. The district said last year's stop on the family's street was an exception and that individual home stops are not practical at scale.
Metro Schools has received more than 400 requests about bus stop distance or safety since the first day of school. The district says every request gets reviewed, but changes must also work for thousands of students across Davidson County.
VanSlyke says he wants his kids to take the bus — but until they have a safer place to wait, they won't.
"I took the school bus every day, and I walked this same type of route," VanSlyke said.
Parents with concerns about their child's bus stop can reach out to the district's Family Information Center at (615) 259-4636.
You can read the district's full statement below.
MNPS takes concerns about student transportation safety seriously, and we are reviewing the circumstances reported at this stop. Motorists are required to obey the flashing red lights and stop arm of a school bus, and the reported incident involving a vehicle passing the stopped bus is concerning.
While in the previous year the route was adjusted to stop specifically at the parent’s home, that individual stop was not part of the route developed for this school year. Providing individual stops at students’ homes when other established stops are available nearby is not a sustainable practice for an efficient and reliable transportation system.
The family's assigned stop is approximately one-tenth of a mile from their residence and is also located at an existing WeGo bus stop. We recognize the family's concerns about crossing Granny White Pike and have offered a stop at the end of the block, at Lealand Lane, as an alternative that would not require students to cross Granny White Pike. We have communicated these plans with the parent.
We will continue to review safety concerns raised about bus stop locations in Nashville. School bus routes and stops must be designed to safely and efficiently serve thousands of students across the district while providing reasonable access to established stops, rather than maintaining individualized stops that were previously granted as exceptions.
GENERAL INFORMATION
MNPS made several transportation adjustments for the 2026-27 school year designed to improve the reliability and efficiency of bus service.
While some individual bus stops changed more significantly, the average distance students travel to a bus stop increased from approximately 0.1 mile last year to 0.2 mile this year, or roughly from one block to two blocks. More than two-thirds of students have a bus stop within 0.2 mile of their home.
The route adjustments were made in conjunction with changes to school start times this year [mnps.org]. High schools now begin 20 minutes later and elementary schools 10 minutes later, while middle school start times remain unchanged. This reduced the spacing between transportation tiers from 55 minutes to 45 minutes and allows buses to complete routes more efficiently.
The changes are not the result of a new transportation provider. MNPS continues to operate its own school bus fleet with district-employed drivers. We are utilizing the support of national transportation experts to develop routes in alignment with national best practices and standards.
Safety is an important consideration in establishing bus stops. When a family raises a concern, our transportation team reviews the individual student's assignment, confirms whether the stop distance is within the guidelines for the student's grade level, and evaluates the walking path between the student's home and the stop. The routing system identifies streets where walking or crossing is restricted, and staff also evaluate conditions such as sidewalks, the number of traffic lanes, visibility and other potential safety concerns. When that review identifies a safety issue, the stop is changed.
We have made a number of adjustments based on that review and family feedback. Since the first day of school, our Family Information Center has received just over 400 requests related to bus stop distance or safety as of last week. The majority of those requests have involved adding students to existing routes rather than concerns about the safety of a stop. Over the past two weeks, approximately 300 new stops have been added to routes, with about half of those additions associated with concerns raised by families.
We recognize that averages don't address every individual circumstance, and even a relatively small change in distance can affect a family's routine. Families who believe there is a specific safety concern with their child's stop should contact our Family Information Center so Transportation can review the location and walking path.
Our goal with these changes is to balance the needs of individual students and families with providing safe, reliable and efficient transportation for students across Davidson County.
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