Jayden Haynes is now riding the bus to Pleasant Elementary.

For more than a month, the third-grader was walking to school past one to four residences where registered sex offenders live. Haynes, her mother and two older siblings had to move near Main Street School at the end of November because of a domestic violence situation.

Haynes, 9, said it made her feel "weird" and little scared knowing that so many sex offenders live where she was walking.

"It scares the daylights out of me," her mother added. "Just in her walk, she had to pass four of these (residences)."

Last year, Haynes attended Maplehurst Elementary and rode the bus.

The girl's mother, Stacy Bolding, addressed the situation with Norwalk City Schools at the January school board meeting. Superintendent Dennis Doughty told the mother to call him so they could address the situation.

Bolding, who has been disabled for the past three years, said the pain she experiences keeps her from walking her daughter to Pleasant. She has three children in the school district, two of whom who attend Norwalk Middle School (NMS).

"Some days I can't get out of bed," she told the board. "I have to take 36 pills a day just to function."

Haynes couldn't walk home with any of her classmates because she said they go a different way home than she does.

"When the really cold weather came in, she said, 'Mom, I can't feel my lips since I got to school.' ... That was with a scarf on," Bolding said.

Busing policies

Haynes earlier couldn't be bused because of where her family lives.

Elementary students in Norwalk City Schools who live 9/10 mile or more from their school can ride the bus.

"We use board policy for our measurement," Doughty said.

A total of 1,257 elementary students are eligible to ride the bus, according to current district statistics. There are 292 students at Pleasant who qualify.

Bolding's research and Doughty's differed on how many registered sex offenders live near Bolding. She said there are seven within a half-mile radius and 19 sex offenders live within one mile of her home. Doughty said he determined one sex offender lived where Haynes was walking.

"She walks to the nearest bus stop (now)," Doughty said.

The superintendent declined to directly address how the district recalculated Bolding's situation so her daughter can ride the bus.

"We can't control what's in the community," Doughty said, referring to sex offenders.

Walking to school

Before the district determined Bolding's daughter was eligible to ride the bus, Bolding had worked out a situation in which Haynes would walk with someone to Pleasant.

In the mornings, Bolding's friend, Ed Williams, who lives nearby, would walk Haynes to Pleasant.

"The reason I do it is because I was a victim (of sex abuse). ... I know what it's like to be a victim as a child," Williams said. "I don't want to see any child go through that."

His brother, whom he declined to name, is a convicted sex offender.

"He's on the run. He lives in Youngstown," Williams said about his brother.

In the afternoons, it was one of Haynes' brothers' turn to make sure the girl got walked home safely.

Bolding said that meant her son would ride the bus home from NMS, get a quick snack and walk his sister home from Pleasant.

Haynes said she felt safe knowing Williams and her brother would walk with her.

Before the situation was resolved, Bolding spoke with Doughty and Dustin Brown, director of support services.

About a possible busing exemption, Brown told Bolding if he did it for one student, he'd have to do it for all, she said.

"Mr. Doughty says he understands why he (Brown) says that," Bolding said.

"(Brown) felt for me because he's a parent at the schools, but his hands were tied because if he bent the rules for one students, he'd have to do it for all," she said.

Regardless, Bolding said she's relieved that her daughter isn't walking to school any more.

"She's happy," the mother said.