From:

Effective activities and events (sample)

Walking School Bus

Goal:

To encourage communities to support children walking to school in groups accompanied by an adult.

Potential partners:

	Parents/PTAs
	School personnel
	Police
	Seniors/Senior Centers
	Neighbors/Neighborhood Associations
	Recreation Departments/Community Recreation Centers

How it works:

Each October, millions of children, parents, teachers and community leaders across the globe walk to school to celebrate International Walk to School Day. Walk to School Day can become a catalyst for ongoing efforts to increase walking throughout the year. Daily walking opens everyone’s eyes to the need for sidewalks and trails, safe street crossings, more cautious drivers, safe walkers and bicyclists, and even state legislation to fund improvements. The desire to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist injuries, restore childhood mobility, improve basic health, and reduce automobile traffic near schools has inspired a wide variety of programs that share the name "Safe Routes to School". These projects have emerged from concerned communities around the country, sometimes under different names.

The Walking School Bus is one strategy to get kids to walk using a safe, supervised route. It brings together a small group of students with one or more adults on their walks to and from school. Typically, the students live near one another. Even if they already walk to school, the benefit of the Walking School Bus is that it provides a consistent, supervised system in which children can walk to school under the watchful eye of an adult. Interested adults volunteer for the program by signing their name next to where they live on street maps displayed at the local school. Clusters of households are identified and linked. Safe and enjoyable routes are mapped out for the group. They can identify potential problem intersections along the route and monitor them so children can cross safely. The involved adults become part of the problem-solving process in their neighborhood.

Suggested action steps:

	One at a Time. Find a group of families who live close to each other and ask them to organize a Walking School Bus. This generally results in one Walking School Bus at the school, at least initially.
	Organize an Interested Persons Meeting. Organize a meeting with key stakeholders that will include members of the school administration, interested teachers, parents, police and school volunteers. The purpose is to create a common understanding of the purpose of a walking bus, and identify individuals to take responsibility for organizing the effort. It may take several meetings to sort out potential routes, schedules and volunteer “drivers.”
	Network the School. Survey the school community to gauge interest in joining a Walking School Bus and sort the responses into potential routes. A sample survey can be found at www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk/resources.htm. Organize a meeting so people can set the schedule, driver roster and contact person for each Walking School Bus. The contact person acts as the coordinator for new people wishing to join the Walking School Bus.

What you will need:

	An outreach and information strategy to reach potential users
	Interested parents on key streets or buildings
	Volunteers to "drive" the bus
	A regular pattern or schedule that a bus "follows"
	Perform a Walkability Checklist for each route (download at www.walkinginfo.org/walkingchecklist.htm)
	Parental consent for each student “riding” the bus

Organizer talking points:

	Roughly 10% of children nationwide walk to school regularly. Even among those kids living within a mile of their school, only 25% are regular walkers.
	Fewer cars will be on the roads around the school, creating a safer environment for children.
	Gives children a sense of independence while “being a part of a team” walking to school.
	Provides a safe, non-polluting, and convenient alternative for children traveling to and from school.
	Children and adults get exercise and gain the many health benefits of moderate physical activity.
	Children meet their neighbors, each other, and become part of the community instead of viewing it from the back seat of a car.
	Parents gain “extra time” when they don’t have to accompany their children to school every day.
	Helps teach children good road sense and safety.

Resources:

Walk to School Day (October 8, 2003)
USA: www.walktoschool.org
International: www.iwalktoschool.org
United Kingdom: www.walktoschool.org.uk
Canada: www.goforgreen.ca/walktoschool
California: http://www.cawalktoschool.com

KidsWalk-to-School Guide
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk

Safe Routes to School
National Summary: http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=49
California: www.dhs.ca.gov/routes2school
Florida: http://www.dcp.ufl.edu/centers/trafficsafetyed/swts.htm
New York: www.saferoutestoschool.org
United Kingdom: www.saferoutestoschools.org.uk/
Canada: http://www.greenestcity.org/indexasrts.html

Walking School Bus
www.walkingschoolbus.org

###
 

top