School leaders, commissioners press state for bus‑zone change as stacking and sidewalks drive local debate

Local education and elected officials at a joint Hernando County meeting on Tuesday focused much of their discussion on student pickup and drop‑off patterns, school stacking that blocks neighborhood roads and local efforts to build sidewalks to improve safe walk routes to schools.

Superintendent Ray Pinder, School Board Chair Shannon Rodriguez and multiple county commissioners described longstanding stacking at campuses including JD Floyd and Challenger K‑8, and noted traffic has sometimes spilled into neighboring residential streets. Pinder and board members said the district has considered operational changes — double‑lining stacks on campus, using alternate queuing areas and temporarily directing traffic onto school property — but that these measures are expensive and constrained by available land and…