What the heck is a “walking school bus?” At first I started thinking about the Flinstones … you know Fred sitting there feet hanging out of the bottom of the school bus run along propelling the bus down the road while traversing traffic, but it seems that my wild imagination was completely off the mark on this topic.
It seems that a walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. As simple as it sounds, that is all it is, and that is part of the allure of the walking school bus to many cities. Obviously there are numberous variations of the walking school bus, and heck, the Walking School Bus even has its own website. But why do I, of all people (you know me – the guy that would rather lay on the couch and watch television), really care about this?
Well, it seems that the Shawnee City Council (the city we live in) hopes the idea of a “walking school bus,” popular in England and Australia (and some places in the United States – according to a study nearly 90% of 422,000 students in Chicago walk to school), will help the local school district deal with higher fuel costs. The ‘bus’ would consist of adults who accompany students walking to school along designated safe routes. Officials want to implement the plan at two elementary schools for the 2007-08 school year.”
But I, being the health conscious individual that I am, feel that this could have a greater impact on society as a whole, and not just being able to help the “local school district deal with higher fuel costs.” With American’s waistlines expanding (update: mine is recently shrinking), kids walking to school is inherently better for their health. Think about it in terms of dollar savings and free exercise.
A similar program is already working on a trial basis in Kansas City.
“It’s really a no-brainer when you see how well this program works,” one parent coordinator says, citing almost doubled participation in the trial in Kansas City.
You can learn more about how this idea has worked abroad from the BBC and the Australian government.
