SAFE ROUTES

 

 

Reasons to walk or ride a bike to school:

 

*Walking and biking to school provide opportunities for children and families to reduce their carbon usage and contribute to the health of the environment.

*If a family chooses to walk to school (rather than drive a personal vehicle) they can reduce their carbon use by .164 metric tons annually. If half of the students at an average size elementary school choose to walk to school their impact could be a savings of over 39 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year. This is the equivalent of the carbon-removing abilities of 1,000 trees.

*Leaving the car at home just two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 pounds per year.

*Private vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution and global climate change, both of which threaten human and environmental health.

*Passenger cars, trucks, motorcycles, and SUVs together account for 62 percent of transportation related greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector is responsible for one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.

*Air pollutants can be especially harmful to children because their respiratory systems are still developing.

*Air pollution has negative effects on lung development in children and can reduce lung function, increase respiratory infection, and aggravate asthma symptoms.

*Childhood asthma rates more than doubled from 1980 to the mid-1990s and they remain at historically high rates today. Presently, asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic childhood diseases and is a major cause of childhood disability.

*At least 14 million school days are missed annually due to asthma.

*Exposure to nature and time for free outdoor play can have multiple health benefits including stress reduction, relief of ADHD symptoms in children, and increased cognitive and motor functioning.

*The daily walk to school offers children an opportunity to spend time in the natural environment.

*When appropriate and safe, walking and biking to school is an experience that can help children develop a sense of independence.

 

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Walking School Bus has its first day!

 

The Hugh Bish Walking School Bus had its first day of operation on August 24, 2010 for this school year. This year our focus is on the northeast part of the neighborhood. The meeting site is the grassy area between the two apartment complexes at the intersection of 52nd Street and Asbury.

 

 

Have you ever seen a school bus walk?

 

Get ready! We are going to hold a couple of Walking School Bus days this year, in general preparation for the full year long activity next school year. Weather permitting; the Hugh Bish Walking School Bus will walk to and from school on May 13th and 20th. Watch the newsletter and web site for more information.

 

We need parent, grandparent, uncles and aunts, etc. to help in walking with the students. A background check is required. If interested, please contact the school at 248-2244 and leave your name and phone number so we may discuss this with you.

 

Students desiring to walk with the Walking School Bus MUST have a permission form completed and on file at the school. Those will be coming out very soon to students who live within one-half mile of the school. Please let your teacher know you want to do this. Bicycles may join in too, with permission slips on file and as long as they "walk" their bikes. Pick up and drop off points will go out to those who sign up and complete a permission form.

 

If you are not walking think about another type of transportation. We must reduce the number of personal vehicles bringing students to school and being picked up daily. We must help the environment! And it would be much safer around the school and the whole neighborhood if Safe Routes to Schools philosophies were adopted and applied by everyone.

 

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Volunteers are needed to help walk dozens of students safely to and from school as this program expands to a daily event. We are starting on Wednesdays and plan to expand it to a daily event, weather permitting. We will NOT walk on days where the weather is extreme, i.e. wind chill below 32 degrees. Please contact the office if you would like to help in a morning or afternoon or even both.

Thank you for your support and interest in the program.

 

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Hugh Bish Elementary School is participating in the Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) program. Safe Routes to School national web site is www.saferoutesinfo.org where you may find an abundance of information on this great program. The Oklahoma web site is www.okladot.state.ok.us/srts/. We are in the early stages of becoming a part of this program. We started with teachers taking a tally each day for a week of how students arrived at school and planned on going home. The choices were: walking, riding a bus, riding a personal or care pool vehicle, etc. Parents were sent a survey to complete. Please check the information on the national and Oklahoma web sites for more information and let the school know if you are interested in helping. We will need several parents, grandparents, responsible adults, to assist to make this a safe success. The program will also include a safe house or several in the neighborhood in case children become endangered or feel they are. This is a very complex program and will take some time to put together and place into full action. Your help is needed and will be greatly appreciated. We will add more information to this page as we move forward in the program.

The Walking School Bus is but one part of the Safe Routes to School program. Click HERE for a web page discussing this safer way for children to walk to and from school. Click HERE for a PDF or printer friendly copy.

Not so long ago, walking and biking to school was as common as today’s more familiar ritual of parents dropping and picking up children from schools all across the U.S. In 1969, nearly 50 percent of all students walked or bicycled to school. Today, however, the story is very different. Fewer than 15 percent of trips to and from schools are made by walking or bicycling, compared to 25 percent on school buses, and over 50 percent made in private automobiles.

 

The decline in walking and bicycling has had an adverse effect on traffic congestion and air quality around schools as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety. In addition, a growing body of evidence has shown that children who lead sedentary lifestyles are at risk for a variety of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Safety issues are a big concern for parents, who consistently cite traffic danger as a reason why their children are unable to bicycle or walk to school.

The purpose of the Federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program is to address these issues head on. The Program empowers communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity once again. The Program makes funding available for a wide variety of programs and projects, from building safer street crossings to establishing programs that encourage children and their parents to safely walk and bicycle to school.

 

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Origin of the program

The Safe Routes to School Program is a 100% federally funded reimbursement program established by the August 2005 SAFETEA–LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act) Transportation Bill. The legislation provides funding (for the first time) for State Departments of Transportation to create and administer SRTS programs which allows communities to compete for funding for local safety projects and educational initiates. SRTS is funded at $612 million and provides Federal–aid highway funds to State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) over five Federal fiscal years (FY2005–2009), each State’s share is based in accordance with a formula specified in the legislation. These funds are available for infrastructure and non–infrastructure projects, and for the administration of the State Safe Routes to School programs that benefit elementary and middle school children in grades K–8. The intent of the program is: (1) to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; (2) to make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and (3) to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.

The Federal–aid SRTS Program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Safety.