Greenacres Kids Get to School the Green Way

On Friday May 23rd the Environmental and Sustainability Committee of the Greenacres Elementary PTA implemented a "walking school bus," where children walk to school along a safe route accompanied by a minimum of two parent "drivers." One parent leads the pack while the other supervises the rear. The walking school bus picks up "passengers" along the way to school. The Greenacres school bus will operate every Friday for the remainder of the school year.

The bus started with seven lines, spanning the various corners of the area of Greenacres. On its first day there were over 60 passengers. The reason for the bus is twofold – to encourage walking as an environmentally- friendly practice and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

The key to the success of the bus program is the parent volunteers who are needed to supervise the walkers. While the Greenacres community is a relatively quiet one, there are some streets which are not pedestrian-friendly and greater caution is required.

Organizer Eunjee Hong explained that, "Having just moved from Manhattan, we were used to walking to school and I wanted to keep that up with my kids, so I was already walking them to school here. I thought the idea of a walking school bus was great and was happy to hop on board." She added, "We see this as a great opportunity to save gas, reduce harm to our environment and have healthier kids.

Another outgrowth of the walking school bus is increased interaction between neighbors and foster community-building among residents who are often isolated in their cars. In an age when students sit in front of a screen rather than play outdoors it's beneficial for them to get to school on their own two feet.

One mother noted that, "It was usually challenging to wake my son up for school. But since he started walking with our neighbors, he's eager to get up and enjoys 'carpooling' to school. I'm so glad this bus program has been initiated so that more children will be able to walk to school on a regular basis, even if their parents are unable to accompany them."

At the debut of this year's walking school bus, one of the buses had a special passenger, Scarsdale Mayor and Greenacres resident Bob Steves. Mayor Steves has been a longtime advocate of reducing traffic around the school and in fact was responsible for doubling the parking fines around the school to encourage students to walk instead of drive to this neighborhood school.

More information on how to start a walking school bus can be found at http:// www.walkingschoolbus.org.
(Photos by Amy Nasdasdi)