BAY CITY, Michigan — Another school year is upon us and for thousands of kids, that means riding the bus. But one dad in Michigan noticed something he called scary about his daughters’ new stop.
James Yager was shocked and angered after he found out his 11 and 12-year-old daughters’ new bus stop was located in front of a sex offender’s house.
“Being a parent, I don’t want to put my kids at risk. And I know that no parent out there would want to put their kids at risk,” Yager said. “It was not only just a sex offender, it was a sex offender that had committed a crime against a 13 to 15-year-old.”
Yager feared his girls would have to catch the bus on the first day of school at that stop. He was equally puzzled when he visited the Bay City public schools transportation department’s website.
“The law states that a sex offender can’t live within a thousand yards of a school, but yet they’re sending these kids to a sex offender’s house to catch the bus. It doesn’t make any sense,” Yager said.
He said he contacted the transportation department last week, but nothing changed. The department’s interim director later said he hoped to find out if this was an oversight or if it knowingly located a bus stop there.
“Most of our bus stops have been established for years,” the school district wrote in a statement. “We add delete or change stops upon request and within reason.”
The statement went on to say the district investigates and moves any stop near a sex offender, once all families using that stop are notified. The district will move the bus stop to a different location.
Click here to visit the Virginia State Police sex offender registry.
