This map shows Kansas City area schools that are participating in Walk to School Day today. In Kansas City, participation is highest on the Kansas side of the state line. Courtesy BikeWalk KC.
Today is international Walk to School Day, meant to encourage more kids and parents to rethink their transportation options for the trip.
This year more than 40 schools in the Kansas City metro area will participate, although few in Midtown are among them.
“We’re working on instilling the value in kids at a young age that walking is not unsafe and not uncool,” Kristen Jeffers, Communications Manager for BikeWalkKC, a Midtown nonprofit, says. The group is working with school principals, parents and teachers on a variety of activities. Jeffers says BikeWalk hopes that making aa walk to school exciting, especially for young children, can start to overturn a downward trend in traveling to school by foot.
In fact, about 48 percent of children walked or rode a bike to school in 1969; that has declined to about 15 percent today. Aaron Bartlett, Mid-American Regional Council Senior Transportation Planner, says surveys have shown a number of concerns discourage walking: 1. distance from home to school; 2. traffic-related danger; 3. weather; 4. crime and danger; and 5. school district policies that forbid walking to school in some places.
“Walking and bicycling to school are enjoyable activities that allow young students time for physical activity and socialization and help build a sense of responsibility,” Bartlett says. “Kids can get outdoors and interact with friends, parents and neighbors.”
As a transportation planner, Bartlett also appreciates the impact on traffic. The entire community benefits, he says, when there is less traffic congestion around schools at peak travel times.
Walk to School Day planners across the country hope to encourage communities to think about providing safe routes for kids to walk and bike to school. They also say such activities create a sense of community and increase physical activity. The federal government encourages participation in Bike to School Day as a tool in fighting childhood obesity.
Bartlett says although it only happens once a year, the event often triggers parents, administrators and students to think in new ways. In some schools, it has led to “walking school bus” programs, where parents and children walk from house to house picking up other students. Other areas have adopted “Walking Wednesdays” as one step in breaking the habit of being driven to school.
Jeffers say the group is encouraging people who walk to school to post to social media with the hashtag #walktoschoolKC, which may serve as an inspiration to others to get involved.
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