Transit Notes: The Walk to School Day Edition

Welcome to the Walk to School Day edition of Transit Notes, a twice-monthly newsletter about transportation in the Menlo Park City School District. Please feel free to forward to anyone you think would like the info.  

Oct 3 is International Walk to School Day!

All the schools in the district will be holding events in the next few weeks around walking and rolling to school:

Oak Knoll: Bike Safety Week this week: Rodeos, rides, and rolling parties!

Encinal: Walk and Roll to School on Oct 3: Stop by the table near the front of school for treats, stickers and more!

Laurel: Goodie-table Oct 3 for Walk to School Day. Bike Week Oct 8-12, with welcome table at drop-off on Monday and Friday, a parents’ seminar after drop-off on Wednesday and a bike rodeo during the Fall Picnic on Friday after school!

Hillview: Walk and Roll to School on Oct 3: Stop by the table near the front of school for treats, stickers and more!

If you’d like to help get ready, let me know. I need volunteers to do the following:

• Hang posters a week or so before the event.
• Coordinate announcements on the school TV station and electronic billboards
• Help staff the tables on the morning of the event
• Lead walking groups from their neighborhood
• Make posters -- or even costumes! -- to carry while walking to school (see pic: http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/oldsite/walkingschoolbus.html)

Here's some info about the program. Please let me know if you'd like to volunteer, and forward this to anyone you think might want to help:
http://www.walkbiketoschool.org/ready/about-our-work/history

Success Story:
At least one group of Laurel families have been walking together from the Flood Park neighborhood for more than 10 years! It’s a half mile walk, so each year the walkers cover about 90 miles over a school year! That’s about $60 in savings on gas and car maintenance per family! The group has nine families, for a total carbon savings of about 800 pounds of Co2 emissions, or the equivalent electricity of a family home for more than two weeks. Not to mention all those calories burned!

Here are the rules the group came up with when they organized their walking group. Maybe it will help you get your own group going!

• Walk in a straight line
• Stay on the far right of the sidewalk
• Don’t walk in the gutter unless the path is blocked
• Stop at each corner and wait to be told to cross
• Keep your hands to yourself
• Stay with the group
• Follow directions
• No picking stuff off the ground or plants
• No kicking stuff on the ground
• No stepping or jumping in puddles
• No screaming or yelling
• Be polite
• Say, “Goodbye” & “Thank you” before you leave the parent leader

Dates to remember:
Sept 24-28: Bike Safety Week at Oak Knoll Elementary
Oct 3: International Walk to School Day
Oct 8-12: Walk and Roll week at Laurel Elementary

Kathy Schrenk is the Traffic Safety Coordinator for the Menlo Park City School District.