from Sara Sundquist, Safe Routes to School Coordinator:
Sixteen Shasta County schools will join schools from around the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October 10, 2018. Local elected officials, principals and parents will lead “walking school buses,” where groups of students will walk to school that day.
This 22nd annual International Walk to School Day is expected to include students from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. Walk to School Day events create safer routes for walking and bicycling and emphasize the importance nature plays on our physical and mental health, pedestrian safety, decreased traffic congestion and reduced air pollution. “International Walk to School Day is a reminder of an additional transportation choice to get kids to school. Kids enjoy this event and often ask if they can walk to school more often,” says Sara Sundquist, Shasta Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator. Some schools use daily walking school buses as a transportation option that ensures getting students to school on time. The Shasta Safe Routes to School Program offers resources and assistance on starting walking school buses.
Schools participating in Shasta County include Anderson Heights, Anderson Middle School, Burney Elementary, Columbia, Cypress, Junction, Happy Valley Primary, Manzanita, Meadow Lane, Millville, Rother, Sequoia, Shasta Lake School, Shasta Meadows, Sycamore, and Turtle Bay. More than 1,500 students, 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.1
Junction Elementary will celebrate new sidewalks and crosswalks recently completed on Deschutes Road with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Shasta County Public Works was awarded Active Transportation Program funding to make improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists by adding sidewalks, bike lanes, and crosswalks with median islands and flashing beacons. The project will be completed in time for Walk to School Day and will be celebrated by students and their families who live within walking distance of the school.
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 start a walking school bus at your school, contact Sara Sundquist at (530) 245-6457.
For additional information, please visit these web sites:
Healthy Shasta www.healthyshasta.org/saferoutes.htm
International Walk to School in the USA www.walkbiketoschool.org
National Center for Safe Routes to School www.saferoutesinfo.org
Pit River Country 