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16A WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2004 USA TODAY
<br />Nati
<br />Safety
<br />outweighs
<br />children's
<br />need for
<br />adventure,
<br />parents say
<br />Continued from 15A
<br />Students don't walk for a variety
<br />of reasons. Parents fear for their
<br />child's safety , whether from heavy
<br />traffic or possible abductions.
<br />Schools are often too (anon die out-
<br />skirts of town or far from the sub-
<br />division instead of in the neigh-
<br />borhood. Parents who wade and
<br />don't have time to walk their dig-
<br />dren to school like knowing their
<br />kids are safely delivered by car or
<br />suppervised on the bus.
<br />'-lie result is many students miss
<br />an important part of growing up.
<br />the CDC and groups concerned
<br />with the issue say. The freedom
<br />and adventure of wailing to school
<br />has been replaced with oversche-
<br />duled and oversuPervised kids. As
<br />Royce Yeater of the National Trust
<br />for Historic Preservadon outs it,
<br />
<br />
<br />r
<br />a to encourage ? g{?uaij u Y a? fk"?(i 4tiy
<br />gasidewail<as a 1"fi''E <,u.c-C .1 3.., AW
<br />a small grove of µ?„tow..^?^,^:.row
<br />nearbyhouses.A Exercise: Frank Prince, 10, rides to Oak Creek Elementary But hell tale
<br />grader stand as a bus to middle school nextyear because there are no sidewalks
<br />v dime students
<br />this fall, the county health a
<br />sc
<br />school u tried to start "walking
<br />school bus"sote to to could nuld meet t
<br />g n I i n u
<br />ikon a set mute walk ro Oak
<br />Creek with adult supervision But v?±^r•^^^'_^^"e (''aw'l
<br />the principal, Jeff Brown, said no. -" } onto
<br />He feared potential liability issues. wikw+x! io " '?
<br />'Today, every time a kid walls m
<br />school, I'm like. 'good job,'" says
<br />Carolyn Nelson. Oak Creeks pI s-
<br />icai education teacher. When her I cohlmlrut
<br />children were young, she says, "it
<br />had m be something really special ^^^^^^'^. ?....wuz.*owr
<br />that I picked them up at school.
<br />Now we have kids that are picked It could be dangerous.
<br />upevery day" Tina Schnieder is an Oak Creek
<br />be
<br />ride
<br />says
<br />10, rides his bike to
<br />eels out ofthe ram-
<br />:40 a.m. After two
<br />intersections, he's
<br />e in the mclc But
<br />IC will go to sixth
<br />e Middle School,
<br />his house and the
<br />igintersection.
<br />wants to ride his
<br />Walking m school 'builds char-
<br />acter. It gives diem moxie:' says mom and a private invest!gamt5he
<br />knows that abductions of children dropped this fall because of a fi-
<br />nancial crisis. But the police
<br />lk
<br />b
<br />Wendi Kaliins, national coord nator by stringers are rare-2,000-3,000 .
<br />e-
<br />warned students not ro wa
<br />for Safe Routes to School, a conked- a year in a nation of 71 million chil- cause the school is on a busy road
<br />coition orlocal and state pro grams dren, according to federal crime among shopping centers and parka
<br />d
<br />h
<br />id
<br />lk
<br />to impprave pedestr an condition
<br />d amt tla. But file Dawn Gmdhwoi, ing to san
<br />t
<br />ere are no s
<br />ewa
<br />s.
<br />o
<br />b
<br />lki
<br />t
<br />'d
<br />i
<br />h
<br />for ciul
<br />ren walking to school. Schroeder says her biggest (ear h e wa
<br />ng
<br />o
<br />You
<br />e
<br />t
<br />er
<br />Some students ride a bus far "'n anger danger." So she doesn't dose to traffic or in a ditch," says
<br />from their neighborhood mattend lether9-year-old son. Ryle, walk to police LL Ken Colburn Fairfield's
<br />a magnet school or an integrated sdtooL especially not on the short- fiscal woes eased when voters
<br />school- reasons parents think out- art through the treesItoniy talres passed a school tax in November,
<br />weigh the benefits of walking. And onetime. "she says. so busing would resume. But in the
<br />time-stopped families may relish Patens also fear their child could nearby Lakrom school district, bus-
<br />the few minutes in the car for a be struck by a car. Being killed by a ing for all high schools will be sus-
<br />Reasons for riding children younger reran 14, second father to drive his 15-year-olu son
<br /> only to being killed while a pas- to class "It's busing by grandpa"
<br />Now it reqyuires volunteer efforts
<br />likethe"waikingschoolbus"ordhe senger in a car, according to the Na-
<br />banal Safe Rids Campaign. The Coburn says.
<br />Fears about liability and poten-
<br />national KidsWallc-m-School pro-
<br />d group's 2001 surv%9 of 9.000 in-
<br />d
<br />l
<br />d
<br />h
<br />gram mgetstu
<br />ents outofthecar mrsecbons near sc
<br />s s
<br />owe
<br />go
<br />and on their feet. Why the resis- that nearly 60% include unsafe
<br />once? walking condidam,suchasaladcof
<br /> sidewalks or speeding drivers.
<br />3?
<br />2000, the National-Rust for Historic
<br />Preservation pointed out this trend
<br />and included neighborhood
<br />schools on its annual list of en-
<br />dangered historic bu8dings..
<br />In Ohio, a large pot ofst re mon-
<br />ey for school construction is en-
<br />couraging communities to build
<br />newschoois.
<br />'Abu can almost throw a stone in
<br />con-
<br />Orange'
<br />Plato to
<br />some in
<br />every-
<br />.. "'"" '"
<br />get m wade most acconn Ply their was a consideration. says school
<br />board member Chuckjolnrson
<br />kids into the building. Mitre Lau-
<br />berCs house is on the comer of Oak ^Heigghborhoods are great, and
<br />
<br />W
<br />'s,
<br />'
<br />
<br />Creek'sdriveway, Buthedrives Lib- Cs un
<br />innamthat wecan
<br />t con-
<br />it
<br />tine in that way, but them wasn't
<br />by, 6, and Jeffrey, 8, to the door for the space avagable."
<br />early drop-of partly to save time
<br />getting to wodc and party to avoid
<br />retorting home and sending the 'Missed opportunity'
<br />(amity dog into a frenzy. Does he
<br />feel slightly ndiculous driving his The issue of walking to school is
<br />
<br />rid ran 30 yards to school? "All being studied by the Environmen-
<br />tal Protection Agency as a possible
<br />the time; he says.
<br />People have developed habits
<br />now, and they don't really want to
<br />" way to decrease auto emissions. A
<br />2003 study by the agency of car
<br />haffic to two Florida !ugh schools
<br />KziBns says about
<br />change diem,
<br />parentswho dove their .s. "i-rey
<br />' showed thahhe(ghbmhood schools
<br />vinuldinc 1111alki
<br />gby 13% and
<br />s more convenient, even
<br />think it
<br />though they have m get up early, %
<br />reduce auto emissions byl5%.
<br />'
<br />
<br />fight the school lines."
<br />' Samh Martin of the CDC
<br />s Phys-
<br />ical Activity and Health Branch says
<br />t get there from
<br />? They cat
<br />here increazin the number of clukhen
<br />'
<br />.
<br />Sometimes it's just too far to who walk to school won
<br />t solve the
<br />problem of overweight kids. But
<br />walk. In 2001, half of all kids lived
<br />3 mile or more from school
<br />mm- walking to school could provide 20
<br />,
<br />ac-
<br />with
<br />o
<br />pared to 40 minutes of the hour of exer-
<br />rise children need each day. "It's a
<br />n ousc
<br />confi
<br />the Nati
<br />cording to the National Nmeholit real missed opportunity. Not only
<br />7tansponadon Survey.
<br />As school Iff"n s expand or re- for physical activity, but I believe
<br />kids gain pedestrian skBls and also
<br />place old build gs new comnuc-
<br />non is often on la Eger Sims on the a sense ofindependence, a same of
<br />"
<br />
<br />edge of developed areas -away she says
<br />accomplishment
<br />Cam, the teacher who patrols
<br />from ceflat in Iocamd neighbor-
<br />hoods
<br />That makes [hem too farm the shortcut through the woods,
<br />.
<br />walk m,atieastuntii residential de- says she has gotten to know the
<br />three students who routinely use
<br />velopment spreads farther out In the oath. On a recent morning. thev
<br />a good way to start your
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