Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 3rd

Wednesday, October 3th is International Walk to School Day, an annual event that seeks to encourage more walking to school. The Rodgers Forge Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Committee has organized a RFES Walk to School Day on the morning of October 3rd to encourage this fun, healthy activity for RFES kids and families. Rodgers Forge is a ready-made community for walking and virtually all Rodgers Forge households are within a short, pleasant walk of our neighborhood school.

Now, lots of kids already walk to RFES, but many don't. We know that parents' work schedules are often an obstacle to walking their kids to school, or that many parents are uncomfortable with letting their children walk to school without adult supervision. These are common issues and completely understandable, yet there are many important benefits to our children and to our community in having kids walk to school (learn more about the benefits of walking to school at the bottom of this article). Helping to overcome these obstacles is what this community-led initiative is all about.

Enter The Walking School Bus
In order to provide the opportunity for kids who are typically driven to school to experience the benefits and joys of walking , we're organizing "walking school buses" for Walk To School Day on the morning of Wednesday, October 3rd. Walking school buses are groups of school children walking together along designated routes, accompanied by parents who volunteer as chaperons - in essence, the walking school bus "drivers." Even kids and parents who already walk, but who want to join in the fun are welcome to walk with the groups! Here's a 3-minute video about walking school buses:

So, how does it work?
The concept is actually pretty straightforward. Walking school buses are enabled by parent volunteers to act as chaperons and "drive" each of the walking school buses. There are typically 2 or 3 parents - one at the front, one at the back, and one on the side if needed - for each walking school bus to accompany their respective group. The group walks along a designated route through the neighborhood to school, picking up kids along the way, just like a real school bus.

A walking school bus

We have created six walking school bus routes throughout Rodgers Forge as shown on the map below. We need your help in making it happen, so please consider volunteering!

Each of the colored lines represents a different walking school bus route, and the yellow dots represent the location of a "corner captain." Corner captains are additional volunteers who help increase the visibility of pedestrian activity in the neighborhood and help with crossings.

How can I volunteer as a Walking School Bus chaperon or corner captain?
If you would like to volunteer as a walking school bus chaperon or a corner captain, you can do so by sending an e-mail ASAP with your name, address, and phone number to SRTS committee vice-chair Michael Bayer at  michael.bayer@erm.com.

If you send an e-mail, please indicate which color route you would like to chaperon or at what corner you would like to stand. Volunteers will be contacted prior to October 3rd to receive or confirm assignments.

Walking school buses will start from their point of origins at 8:30 AM and proceed to RFES along their designated routes and arrive at the school by 8:45.

How can my child participate?
If you would like for your child or children to participate in the walking school bus, please wait with them at a point along the route - either at the sidewalk in front of your house or the nearest street corner - for the walking school bus group to arrive before leaving your child. Groups will start out at 8:30 AM so please be outside early enough so that your child doesn't "miss the bus!" Remember, the walking school buses are only happening on the morning of Walk to School Day, and NOT in the afternoon.

Participation is, of course, purely voluntary and no registration is required, however if you would like your child to participate, we would appreciate it if you would send us an email to the aforementioned e-mail address with the number and age of children who will be walking, your address, and the COLOR route of the walking school bus your child will walk with, for our planning purposes.

What else is going on during the event?
In addition to the walking school buses, the Baltimore County Police Department will have uniformed officers in the vicinity of RFES on Walk to School Day and will be talking to students about walk safety as they arrive at the school.

So just what are the benefits of walking to school, anyway?

• Consider the following:
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• Walking is great exercise for you and your child. If done regularly, even for 10 to 15 minutes, it can improve your health, your circulation and your mental concentration. And it can help you and your kid stay in shape and keep extra pounds off. Increased levels of daily physical activity for children:
• Builds and maintains healthy bones, muscles, and joints. 
• Helps control weight, build lean muscle and reduce fat.
• Improves sense of self-image and autonomy.
• Fosters healthy social and emotional development.
• Improves academic performance and alertness.

• Walking improves personal safety and community cohesion. By walking, your child will learn about safety in the street and how to navigate traffic. Your child will also get to know the surroundings and the neighborhood better. By having more kids walking, drivers become more accustomed to pedestrian activity and tend to drive more cautiously. Also, having more pedestrian activity in the neighborhood increases “eyes on the street” and reduces the likelihood of crime. Walking kids to school also fosters friendlier neighborhoods as kids and parents interact with one another and socialize on a daily basis.
• 
  
• Walking children to school helps families spend more quality time together. Our lives are so hectic, and many of us wish we could just "stop and smell the roses," especially with our kids. Your daily walk to and from school can be a good time to talk with your child and share experiences about their day and the world around them.
• 
  
• Walking helps reduce traffic congestion. More walkers means fewer cars traveling through the neighborhood. Fewer cars means less congestion in the pick-up and drop-off points at the school and further improves safety for pedestrians and drivers. Walking to school also increases the likelihood that children and adults will choose to walk and bike for other short distance trips.
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• Walking is better for the environment and the air our children breathe. Reducing the number of vehicular pick-up and drop-offs each day can have a dramatic impact on improving the quality of air around the school. Vehicle emissions are the leading cause of childhood asthma. Also, if a family chooses to walk to school (rather than drive a personal vehicle) they can reduce their carbon footprint by .164 metric tons annually.  If half of the students at an average size elementary school choose to walk to school their impact could be a savings of over 39 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.  This is the equivalent of the carbon-removing abilities of 1000 trees. Leaving the car at home just two days a week will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 pounds per year. 

Your ideas and comments are welcome. We hope to see you walking on October 3rd!

Bike Rodgers Forge!

May is a big month for biking and SRTS in Rodgers Forge.  Here's what happening:

1. Bike to School Day: Wednesday, May 9th!

Wednesday, May 9th is the first annual National Bike to School Day. The Rodgers Forge Safe Routes to School Committee is organizing a group bicycle ride for RFES kids accompanied by their parents to and from school that day.  We will assemble and start at the intersection of Overbrook Road and Pinehurst Road at 8:30 AM.

We will ride down Pinehurst to the alley behind Dumbarton Road to Glen Argyle and then cross Dumbarton on to the school grounds. The ride will be at a leisurely pace and last about 5 minutes, and will be a special treat for the kids. We ask that anyone wishing to participate follow these guidelines:

• Only children who have at least a basic level of competency with riding on two wheels in the street and within groups should participate.
• Children from each household should be accompanied by a parent or guardian riding their own bike or on a tandem.
• All children must wear a helmet by law, and all adults should also wear helmets.

Please RSVP to stusirota@gmail.com if you would like to participate so we can plan accordingly.

We are also seeking volunteer parents or residents stationed along the route on foot who can help hold traffic briefly at intersections along Pinehurst and/or take pictures of the group as they ride by. Please RSVP if you can help in this regard as well.

We have requested Baltimore County Police presence to provide additional traffic control at the school to minimize congestion. If you are not participating in the bike ride, please consider walking your child to school on Wednesday. Or, if you must drive, please try to park on a side street rather than dropping off in front of the school. It makes a huge difference in creating a more pedestrian and bike friendly environment in front of the school when there are fewer cars dropping off and picking up! Most importantly, if you are driving that day, please drive especially slowly and cautiously looking for cyclists.

A bike rack is available at the school near the kindergarten entrance. If the rack becomes full and there is no space available to lock up your bike, arrangements have been made to store bikes securely inside the school rec room for the day.

Marla Streb leading the April 17th RFES Bike Assembly

2. Bike Rodeo at Rodgers Forge Elementary School.

On Tuesday, May 8th, Bike Maryland will be conducting their Bike-Minded Training Program at RFES for 3-5th graders. The course will last 45  minutes for each class and all bicycles and helmets will be provided by Bike Maryland. The course will be led by Marla Streb, the Baltimore-based former National and World Mountain Biking Champion.

In April, Marla recently conducted a bicycle assembly at RFES to teach kids about bike safety and also brought professional bicycle stunt riders to get the kids excited about bicycling.

3. New Bike Rack for RFES has been ordered (..but will BCPS allow it to be installed?)


As part of the grant that the RFES SRTS Committee was awarded last fall from the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the Rodgers Forge Community Association has purchased a new bike rack to be donated to RFES and installed near the main entrance of the school. The rack has been ordered and is expected to be delivered in late May. It will hold 16 bikes, expanding the capacity of bike parking at RFES.

However, despite great support from RFES staff, we have run into an unexpected issue with BCPS, which is not allowing the bike rack to be installed unless it is mounted on a concrete pad. Such a pad does not exist and a new one would have to be installed by one of their approved contractors. The school received a quote of $8,214, mostly for the installation of the concrete pad. BCPS representatives have told the school that they do not have funds available for the installation. So as of right now, we are in the unfortunate position of not being able to install the rack so it will be stored inside the school indefinitely until this issue is resolved.

We had expected to be able to place the freestanding rack (which weighs over 100 lbs.) on a landscaped mulch bed, as is common practice at many schools around the country. To alleviate the BCPS concern about liability and safety, we offered to use community labor and donated materials to pour footers to anchor the rack into the ground at its corners instead of going through the expense and undesirable environmentally unfriendly concrete pad, but BCPS Facilities still said no to that without explanation. So, we are hoping that BCPS will reconsider their decision and allow some flexibility about the installation. Our County Councilman David Marks, who has been a staunch supporter of SRTS is also working on this issue to see if a solution can be found. Until then, the new bike rack will unfortunately be kept in storage..