Burney to participate in Walk to School Day

Press release from Shasta Public Health:

Sixteen of Shasta County schools will join schools from around the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 5, 2016. Local elected officials, principals and parents will lead “walking school buses,” groups of students walking to school that day. Three schools in the Redding School District and Anderson Heights Elementary School in Anderson are offering daily walking school buses as a way for kids to get to school.

“Schools will be using this event to kick-off regular walking school buses at several schools in the Redding School District. These walking school buses are another transportation choice parents and children have for getting to school,” says Sara Sundquist, Shasta Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator.

This 20^th annual International Walk to School Day is expected to include students from all 50 states and 40 countries. Schools participating in Shasta County include Anderson Heights, Anderson Middle, Bella Vista, Burney, Columbia, Cypress, Junction, Juniper, Manzanita, Meadow Lane, Millville, Rother, Sequoia, Shasta Lake, Shasta Meadows, Sycamore, and Turtle Bay. More than 2,000 kids, parents and community leaders will gather at specific locations to walk to school together. As always, drivers should be on alert for children walking near school zones.

Walk to School Day events work to create safer routes for walking and bicycling and emphasize the importance of physical activity among children, pedestrian safety and decreased traffic congestion and air pollution. Walking and bicycling will continue to be at the forefront this month, as pedestrian safety lessons will be given to all second graders in the Redding School District and Cascade Union Elementary District. Additionally an open streets Family Bicycling Day and a celebration of Safe Routes to School will be held on Sequoia Street in the Garden Tract Neighborhood on Sunday, October 9. The street will be open to pedestrian, bicycle, skate, sports and community engagement activities from 10 am – 3 pm.

Walk to School Day is organized by the Shasta County Safe Routes to School program, which works with schools to improve pedestrian safety and to promote walking to school. To assist with this event or the Safe Routes to School movement, contact Sara Sundquist at (530) 245-6457.