‘Walk and Roll’ to School

Sunnyvale School District elementary and middle schools participated in the Nationwide “Walk and Bike to School” day on October 5, 2011, with Walk and Roll to School assemblies at various schools.

Traffic Safe Communities Network (TSCN) in Santa Clara County is involved with implementing Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs in six Sunnyvale School District schools this year (Bishop, Cherry Chase, Cumberland, Ellis, Vargas, and Sunnyvale Middle), with plans to include every school in the district next year.

Above: Ellis School Principal Pepper Butler addresses the assembly

Safe Routes to School is a local and national program designed to increase the number of children walking and biking to school. TSCN staff have been working with our schools, first surveying traffic and pedestrian patterns around our schools, then sharing their findings with each school’s staff and interested parents at a meeting during which attendees share concerns and challenges to students who are not walking or biking to school regularly. School District Office staff, crossing guards, as well as representative from the City of Sunnyvale, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, and Department of Public Works are also in attendance at the meetings. TSCN staff facilitates these meetings to help each school community overcome challenges and make plans to encourage more students to walk or bike to school. Representatives of the community leave the meeting with action items geared toward encouraging more students to walk or bike to school.

Above: Pepper Butler, Dr. Ben Picard, Superintendent, SSD, Mayor Melinda Hamilton and friends

TSCN will continue to support our school communities via Volunteer Coordinator and Parent Workshops (see below). Volunteers will learn more about organizing activities such as “walking school buses” (where parents meet students at various points along a walking route to school and walk with the children to school) and “bike trains” (similar to the walking school bus concept) for children riding bikes to school. Participating schools are encouraged to send at least one representative to the trainings, and teams of parents and other volunteers are highly desirable. The workshops will provide participants an opportunity to network and share ideas with others implementing Safe Routes to School activities.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR AND PARENT WORKSHOPS
These will be FUN, INTERACTIVE “how to” workshops on walking school buses, bicycle trains, bike rodeos, walking days, incentive systems and evaluating your program. Meet new people and share ideas. DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!

All sessions will be held 9:30am – 11am. Attend the session at the location that meets your needs. RSVP required: Alice Kawaguchi, Health Education Specialist, Traffic Safe Communities Network (TSCN) in the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, (408) 793-2733 or Alice.Kawaguchi@phd.sccgov.org.

Article by Nina Wong-Dobkin