Select Columbia schools are joining in on a global event.
Ten years ago, one county in England started a safe walk to school program. Last year,
3 million people from 37 countries participated in International Walk to School Day events. This year, the program has been expanded to an entire month to allow 4 million walkers in 40 countries to participate.
On Wednesday, students from 5,000 schools across the United States are expected to walk to school. In Columbia, students from seven public schools and two private schools will walk to school, followed by breakfast and the chance to win prizes.
In Columbia, walking to school safely is on the agenda all year. There are walking school buses led by volunteers, and the Columbia Police Department supplies crossing guards to most schools. But in some parts of Columbia, it’s not practical to walk to school, in part because of a lack of sidewalks. For example, Rock Bridge Elementary School students would have to walk on the shoulder of Providence Road. Mill Creek Elementary students have no sidewalks on Sinclair Road.
“I’ve seen kids riding their bikes on Sinclair, and it’s scary to watch them,” said Chris Walthall, school programs coordinator for PedNet, one of two Columbia groups organizing the walk-to-school day events.
Some schools, such as Shepard Elementary, are no longer in the neighborhoods they serve. The schools haven’t moved, but the areas where children live have changed. In some cases, the children in a given neighborhood have grown past the age for the school. In other cases, Walthall said: “Even though one neighborhood may be closer to an elementary school, in order to keep all schools economically equal, some school boundaries prevent kids from attending the elementary school closest to their home.”
Good Shepherd Lutheran Elementary is a private school that draws its students from Boone County. Most are driven to school, so instead of having a walk-to-school event, the students will participate in pedestrian safety instruction, including a pedestrian obstacle course. The school is a recipient of the FedEx Express “Walk This Way” grant administered by Columbia Safe Kids. Columbia Safe Kids is the other local sponsor of the international event.
The English county that started it all celebrates for a full week. In 2005, almost 50,000 of its children, from 211 schools participated in events that were fun and serious. Walkers at Northgate School got their balloon “passports” stamped each day they walked and let them go all at once from the school field. The child whose balloon flew the farthest received a prize. At another school, Cunningham Hill Junior and Nursery, students and their parents worked together to create a map with the safest routes to school for parents of new students to use.