For nearly 50 years, Visalia Unified School District provided safe and consistent school bus service directly into the Oak Ranch neighborhood — a rural development just a few miles northeast of Visalia proper. Generations of students were picked up and dropped off at three internal stops that kept them out of traffic, off rural roads, and safely within view of their homes.
That changed this school year — without warning, without notice, and without a single conversation with the families affected.
In a recent communication from VUSD Transportation Director Luis Dominguez, the reason for the change was made clear:
“The recent change to move the stop to the outside of Oak Ranch development was a necessary decision made to prevent potential damage to personal property.”
Let that sink in. After 50 years of safe, incident-free bus service, the district is now saying it had to eliminate three internal stops — not because they were unsafe or unworkable — but because buses might potentially damage a mailbox or parked vehicle.
In other words, hypothetical dings to property are now being prioritized over the actual, daily safety of our children.
Let’s talk about what this new stop looks like. Students are now dropped off at the intersection of Avenue 313 and Road 148 — a busy rural crossroad with no sidewalks, no signage, and cars routinely going 40 miles per hour or more. I personally recorded a vehicle running the bus’s flashing red lights. Thankfully, no child was crossing at that moment.
Worse still, the new stop location is in a dirt lot next to active farmland. When the bus pulls in, it kicks up a cloud of dust — dust that a former Tulare County pesticide inspector recently warned may contain harmful chemical residue from nearby treated crops.
There are no crosswalks. No designated waiting area. No shade. No adult supervision. Just kids waiting in the dirt, breathing in dust, standing feet from speeding traffic.
Meanwhile, the streets inside Oak Ranch haven’t changed. They are still wide enough for large vehicles, still well-maintained, and still safer than forcing children to walk down rural roads to wait in a farm field. The buses managed these streets just fine for half a century. Why not now?
Let’s also not forget: the nearest school is three miles away — much too far for any elementary or middle school child to walk, especially without sidewalks.
To suggest this change was made in the name of “safety” is both disingenuous and offensive. What’s really happened is that VUSD has shifted the risk — from potential liability over mailbox damage onto the backs of families whose children now face real, visible, and daily danger.
And let’s be honest — if a student is injured or made ill because of this decision, the district will face far more than a scratched bumper. It will face serious legal and public accountability.
This isn’t about property damage. This is about policy choices and misplaced priorities.
VUSD has a chance to correct course — to listen to its constituents, to prioritize student safety over vehicle paint jobs, and to restore the three Oak Ranch bus stops that have served our community so well for so long.
Our children’s safety should never be treated as an acceptable risk. We expect better — and we will not stop speaking up until the bus stops are reinstated.