Organizing and Conducting A Safe Route To School Program	Previous  Index  Next
	Safe Routes to School programs are sustained efforts to assess and take measures to make walking and biking conditions on the route to school safe and comfortable and enabling and encouraging children to walk and bike these routes. Getting started Identify the school. Contact the Principal of the school, the Parent Organization, the transportation manager, and staff from the local jurisdiction. Let them know a Safe Route to School program is being organized and encourage them to get involved. Identify within the school a Safe Route to School team. Ask the school or Parent Organization to sponsor the team and its work. Make a rough map of the area not served by school busses. Access maps through a variety of Internet sites such as mapquest.com, multimap.com, or from the local jurisdiction. On the map, show the location of the school and crossing guards. Advertise the program and enlist support from parents, teachers, and local neighborhood or business groups. Kick off the program Kick off the program with a meeting of all those that are interested. Identify ideas to educate others about safe routes to school that could be implemented throughout the year. Conduct an identification and review for routes that are used to walk to school. Select a time, date, and starting location for the review. End the review at the same location. Provide a copy of the Safe Route to School checklist and the map to all participants in the review. After the kick-off review, identify specific improvements to the routes children use to walk to school. Prioritize the improvements and work with the local school district, government, and other organizations to make them happen. Sustain the effort Organize and conduct regular events throughout the year to keep the program in the forefront, raise money and provide continuity. For example, some groups designate one day a week for walking. Others create walking school busses that are formed on a regular schedule. Some provide t-shirts for children and parents to wear at specific “walk to school” events. Use signs posted along the routes to school and other techniques (such as advertisements in school flyers and booths at school fairs) to let others know that the school participates in a Safe Route to School program. To download the Safe Route to School Checklist click here.