Parents at Almond School are trying to restore that picturesque image of children walking through their neighborhood to school by waging a “walk to school” campaign every Friday morning.
Beginning last September, the Almond Walks group placed posters around the school and sent notes home to parents promoting the idea of reducing traffic and congestion around the school by encouraging children to walk from their homes.
Located just a few blocks from Los Altos High School, morning drop-off times at Almond can be problematic when parents stalled in neighborhood traffic crowd the parking lot moments before the start of school.
“I think we all got fairly galvanized about this issue when the district was looking at redrawing the boundaries for the school,” said Bonnie Stevens, one of Almond Walks’ organizers.
When a survey conducted by district officials revealed that almost 90 percent of students are driven to school, “it hit us that this was something we had to work on,” she said.
The group looked at a map of the school’s population, and found that 75 percent of the students lived less than one-half of a mile from the school. Other parents noticed the problem, and with the support of Principal Sue Russ and the teachers, began arranging for their children to find alternate means of getting to school.
When Russ conducted a Friday survey a few weeks ago, she found that nearly 90 percent of Almond students now either walk, ride their bikes or carpool to school.
Almond Walks’ organizers helped parents find “creative solutions” to the traffic problem. One of these is the “walking bus,” which a group of second-grade neighbors “ride” to school each morning.
When students leave their homes, they call the next student along the way. By the time they reach the school, the students have picked up a few friends, and a sense of independence.
“We get to be together and we don’t have to have a bunch of grownups with us,” said one second-grader who rides the “bus.”
“It’s more fun that way.”
Organizers hope the students have a good time walking to school, enough to want to do it each day.
Beginning with just one morning a week, organizers hope to develop the program into an everyday occurrence.
“The idea is to have the kids really enjoy it on Friday, and from that, just expand it,” Stevens said.
Lisa D’Alessandro, another Almond Walks’ organizer, thinks that Almond Walks can do more than just reduce traffic.
“It builds a sense of community, and it builds school spirit,” she said. “It’s healthier for the kids to walk, and we think it reduces stress for them, too. They get a sense of freedom.”
