Organize your Neighborhood
You have the power to increase the number of children walking and biking to school!
You can encourage walking to school by promoting active transportation trips as a neighborhood. Student education, walking school buses, bike trains, and mileage tracking are all ways to keep families excited about walking to school. Get started today with these resources!
Events and Activity Ideas
The key to successfully engaging your community is to get some activities on the calendar to highlight how fun it can be to get to school together.
Cross with a Councilmember
Invite your Councilmember to be an honorary crossing guard for a morning or afternoon! Submit your request to have the Councilmember in your district participate in a morning or afternoon crossing.
Walk with a Superhero
Involve parents and guardians who want to increase walking to school by asking them to dress up as a Superhero (or any fun theme!) and walking as a group to or from school.
National Walk, Bike, & Roll To School Day
The National Center for Safe Routes to School is committed to empowering communities to make active trips to school a safe, appealing, preferred choice for families. The National Center facilitates communities in becoming places for safe walking, biking and rolling for everyone, starting with children and the trip to school.
Walking School Bus
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A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. It can be formal with structured routes, meeting points, and scheduled volunteers, or informal such as two families taking turns walking their children to and from school. This can also work with bikes- to form a bike train!
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You should always start by exploring and choosing a few routes and testing it with a few adults for safety. When beginning a walking school bus, remember that the program can always grow. It often makes sense to start with a small bus and see how it works. Pick a single neighborhood that has a group of parents and children who are interested. It’s like a carpool—without the car—with the added benefits of exercise and visits with friends and neighbors.
For an informal bus:
Invite families who live nearby to walk.
Pick a route and take a test walk.
Decide how often the group will walk together.
Have fun!
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You can find potential participants and partners by coordinating with other school parents and children, principal and school officials, and community leaders.
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It’s important to establish how often the walking school bus will operate (ex: once a week or every day). Will there be several meeting spots? Will the walking bus operate after school?
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When picking a route, answer these questions:
Do you have room to walk? Are there sidewalks and paths? Is there too much traffic?
Is it easy to cross the street?
Does the environment feel safe?
Bike Train
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A bike train is similar to a walking school bus. A bike train helps encourage biking to and from school, with the help and supervision of an adult.
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You should always start by exploring and choosing a few routes and testing it with a few adults for safety. Once you share your plans with other interested parents, secure two adult volunteers to ride with students to ensure student safety and comfort, and start riding! It’s okay to start small. Once more students and parents hear about your plans, the bike train group has the potential to keep growing! Here is a great guide to learn more.
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You can find potential participants and partners by coordinating with other school parents and children, principal and school officials, and community leaders.
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It’s important to establish how often the biking school bus will operate (ex: once a week or every day). Will there be several meeting spots? Will the biking school bus operate after school?
National Center for Safe Routes to School
Nobody knows your neighborhood better than you! Collect and organize data that can be implemented as part of a walk-to-school program in your area to identity paths to school that reduce traffic interactions and more.
Other materials to help you get started today
Gathering support from your neighborhood and community is important to make the effort success!
Use some of these resources as you get started.
Organize a Neighborhood Meeting
Organizing a meeting to bring interested parents, guardians, and students is a great way to get your neighborhood together and brainstorm ways to reduce vehicle traffic and increase foot and bike traffic!
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Calling all parents, guardians, and neighbors of ___ School!
Join us for a neighborhood meeting on _______ at _______am/pm in Room _______ to learn more about what steps we can take as a community to provide safer routes for our students to take to and from school.
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Join us for a meeting on __ at __ am/pm in Room __ to learn more about what steps we can take as a community to keep our students safe as they walk or bike to school!
Community Safety Tips for Your Social Media
Click on the images and right-click to save or hold to save photos on your mobile device or tablet.
Suggested social captions can be copied below for each image.
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Facebook & Instagram:
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Let’s make sure to remind our children to look left, right, and then left again before stepping off the sidewalk. Be sure to also make eye contact with drivers to help ensure they see you!
X (Twitter):
#SchoolSafetyTip: Be sure to make eye contact with drivers and look left, right, and then left again before stepping off of the sidewalk onto marked crosswalks!
ALT Text: school safety tips. look both ways before crossing the street at marked crosswalks. www.walk2schoolto.org.
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Facebook and Instagram:
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Keep your phone, headphones and other distractions away when driving and/or crossing the marked crosswalk. Keep your full attention on the traffic and your surroundings.
X (Twitter):
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Keep your phone, headphones, and other distractions away when driving and/or crossing the marked crosswalks.
ALT Text: School Safety Tips. Avoid distractions while driving and crossing the street. www.walk2schoolto.org.
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Facebook and Instagram:
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! When driving, be mindful of sharing the road with other drivers, bikers, and school buses. If the school bus has sharing lights or the stop arm is extended, you must stop. Remember, this is the law!
X (Twitter):
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Remember to share the road with other drivers, bikers, and school buses. If lights are flashing or the stop arm is extended on the bus, you must stop. It’s the law!
ALT Text:
School Safety Tips. Share the road with bicyclists and school buses. Remember to stop if you see flashing lights or the bus arm extended. www.walk2schoolto.org.
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Facebook & Instagram:
#SchoolSafety Tip of the Day! Pay attention to school zone signs and reduced speed limits. Allow yourself plenty of time to get through the school zone.
X (Twitter):
#SchoolSafety Tip of the Day! Pay attention to school zone signs and reduced speed limits. Allow yourself plenty of time to get through the school zone.
ALT Text:
School safety tips. Slow down and give yourself plenty of time to navigate the school zone. www.walk2schoolto.org
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Facebook & Instagram:
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! When pedaling to school- stay alert, wear a helmet, and follow the traffic laws. Don’t forget to demonstrate proper hand signals and share the road with school buses and other vehicles. It takes all of us working together on the road to navigate it safely!
X(Twitter):
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day. Bikers, remember to stay alert, follow the traffic laws (including using proper hand signals), and wear a helmet when navigating to and from school!
ALT Text:
School safety tips. Use a helmet and demonstrate proper hand signals while riding. www.walk2schoolto.org
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Facebook & Instagram:
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Listen to your Crossing Guard. They are there to help support pedestrian safety, encourage safe driving, and interact with our community.
X (Twitter):
#SchoolSafetyTip of the Day! Listen to your Crossing Guard. They are there to help support pedestrian safety, encourage safe driving, and interact with our community.
ALT Text:
School safety tips. Listen to your Crossing Guard. They’re there to help everyone. www.walk2schoolto.org.
