Have you seen any congestion around your neighborhood schools lately? Well the Bend-La Pine School District is starting to do something about that with the hiring of Michelle Rhoads as the new (and first!) active transportation coordinator for the school district. Central Oregon Daily New ran a news story on May 21st about what Michelle is doing and how she’s partnering with other organizations like Commute Options.
Michelle says that currently two-thirds of the district’s students come to school by car. That’s even though bus transportation is available for students that live more than a mile from school. She’d like to turn that around so that two thirds of students walk, roll, or take the bus to school.
This would be bucking a nation-wide trend. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership reports that the number of kids walking or biking to school dropped from 57% in 1969 to fewer than 15% today. In a 2017 study by the National Institutes of Health, parents report that distance from school, traffic-related danger, weather, crime, and school policy are the most common reasons they drive their kids to school. Other sources report what most of us know–that regular physical activity improves kids’ physical and mental health and makes them ready to learn. Further, walking or biking to school teaches kids independence and improves their ability to reason spatially.
So what will the school district be doing? Michelle is partnering with Commute Options to hold Walk and Roll to School Days to give students and parents a taste of what getting to school under their own power would be like. They’re also working together to develop bike buses, where adults lead groups of kids to school along regular routes and kids join the “bus” all along the route. She has also created a Safe Routes to School Coalition composed of community members from organizations interested in transportation to get ideas about what else to do.
So if you see packs of kids riding bikes in the morning or afternoons, give them a big wave and be thankful they are getting to school in a safe, healthy way and they aren’t each in a car with their parents taking up room on the street! Let’s all help Michelle, Commute Options, and the school district make getting to school safe, healthy, and enjoyable.