Program organization

Introduction

Skinner Road School is in Vernon, Conn. As a kindergarten to fifth grade school, it supports 330 racially and economically diverse students. In 2003, Skinner Road had the lowest testing scores in the district. At this time, the school also had poor fitness test scores, with only 9 percent of fourth graders passing all four parts of the fitness test. In 2006, school staff and parent volunteers initiated Skinner Road’s first Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program with the belief that healthier students will learn better.

Introduction

Introduction

Eldorado K-8 School in Superior, CO has more than 1,000 students, and more than 950 of them living within two miles of the school. The number of students living in close proximity to school creates the potential for a large number of them to walk and bicycle to school.

The area around the school already has many important infrastructure components, such as sidewalks and street signs, but many of the parents perceive the area as dangerous for their children to walk or bicycle to school, or the parents are accustomed to driving their children.

Introduction

In less than a year, a nearly 40 percent reduction in motor vehicle traffic resulted at Eagle Crest Elementary School when students and parents embraced the school’s Safe Routes to School program and chose to SOAR or Step Often and Ride to school.

“There are no cars waiting to drop students off,” says Physical Education Teacher Jason Goldsberry, who is the school’s SRTS coordinator. “It almost seems like a ghost town.”

Introduction

Roosevelt Middle School and the surrounding community of Eugene, Oregon, have successfully developed a team of community organizations committed to providing Safe Routes to School (SRTS) for children.

Introduction

Introduction

Two Lawton, Oklahoma, schools have begun walking school buses to address different challenges, and both schools have seen unexpected benefits from their efforts.

Principal Brenda Hatch has been instrumental in Safe Routes to School programs at both schools in the pilot project: she was principal at Howell Elementary School when the program started in 2007, and now she is principal at Whittier Elementary School.

Introduction

Nine elementary and middle schools in Mansfield, OH, received funding for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects through the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). As a result, more than 1,000 students will benefit from sidewalk improvements and installations, as well as from various education and encouragement activities.

Introduction

The Denver Osteopathic Foundation partnered with Denver Public Schools to launch a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program to increase walking and bicycling at Ellis Elementary and other schools in Denver, Colo. Ellis Elementary School is a kindergarten through fifth grade school with a diverse student population of which more than half of the students live within one mile of the school.

Introduction

With the passage of the federal transportation legislation, SAFETEA-LU, in August 2005, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) began implementing its Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. CDOT first created an advisory committee comprising teachers, parents, law enforcement officers and local planners. The committee worked tirelessly to develop the process and procedures for identifying, selecting and implementing the project, as well as creating a new program for oversight, the budget and evaluation.