How to Start a Walking School Bus

A walking school bus is a group of school kids and a few adults who band together to walk to and from school as a group for fun and exercise. Walking to school helps keep children fit, healthy and alert when they arrive at school. With scheduling and planning, you can start a walking school bus in your community. Follow these steps to find out how.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Printer or copier
• Computer
• Telephone
• Paper

Establish a Planning Committee

1. Contact other parents in your immediate area whose children attend school.
2. Explain the walking school bus concept to them and ask if they would be interested in joining.
3. Recruit the help of teachers and the principal of the school.

Plan Your Walking School Bus Routes

4. Walk the neighborhood to locate the safest paths to school.
5. Choose paths that cross the fewest streets to minimize risk.
6. Select sidewalks that are furthest from the street.
7. Jot down any special pedestrian rules that apply along the route.
8. Map out your route and a few alternate paths to present to other parents.
9. Print out a stack of route maps to distribute.

Compose a Walking Bus Permission Form

10. Create a form with space for the name and address of the child.
11. Write a brief (one page) parental release allowing the child to join the walking school bus.
12. Change the date on the permission forms every school term.
13. Ask that a parent sign a permission form for every child she has who will participate in the walking school bus.

Schedule Adult Supervision

14. Plan which adults will supervise the children on each day.
15. Ask each adult walker to sign his name next to his assigned shifts so you can avoid confusion later.
16. Call each adult the day before his shift to remind him.

Review Walking School Bus Rules

17. Gather the kids together.
18. Tell them that the walking school bus will have rules similar to those they must observe on the regular school bus.
19. Inform them of safety rules. Be sure they know that no one will cross the street until an adult instructs them to.
20. Consider requiring the children to hold hands or walk with a buddy.
21. Start walking! You're ready to set your idea in motion.

Tips & Warnings

• Start with a small group so you can hone your routes.
• Fewer adult walkers are necessary for older kids.
• Plan to have one adult for every three kindergarten-aged children.

Who Can Help: