Why a five minute Walk Zone can be different
Research suggest a walkable distance to a school bus stop is in the eye of the beholder. A five minute walk can be much longer depending on circumstances.
* Do children already walk?
* Is walking considered an acceptable method of transportation?
* Are their danger locations along the path?
General policy guidelines:
Recommended school walking routes will be measured walking distance from the home to the front door entrance of the school.
Current Pennsylvania law allows a school district to ask a child, regardless of age, to walk to a school bus stop measured by public roads and does not include private lane or walkway. Kindergarten through grade eight students are eligible for transportation if they live more than 1.5 miles from school. Grades nine through 12 students are eligible for transportation if they live more than 2 miles from school.
Is a 30 minute walk to school good?
By having your child walk to and from school you can help them perform better. Walking just 30 minutes a day can boost your child’s immune system and cut their risk of catching a cold in half. Walking to school could mean fewer sick days for your child and fewer missed work days for you. Most transportation routing professionals agree that a half mile is as far as most kindergarteners will walk happily, a mile is a reasonable length for older elementary school kids, and that 1.5 miles is an acceptable distance for high schoolers.
One late start solution to increase efficiency is to increase the distance a student may walk to a school bus stop.
A realistic answer is to combine existing stops into “community stops” for middle and high school students. Community stops keep the buses along the perimeters of neighborhoods. Not a popular solution, but in many cases it is a necessary adjustment.
A mother’s story
A mother of twin boys in kindergarten believes the 3 miles she walks each day are too much. Crystal Viars said it’s causing her trouble with her job and causing her kids to miss school. Every weekday at 7:10 a.m. and 2:20 p.m., she starts the same routine — heading out her door for a walk to Southside Elementary School in Huntington. It’s a one-way trip of seven blocks for Viars, either dropping off her boys or picking them up, then seven blocks back. One roundtrip is 1.4 miles. It’s a trip made whether it’s still dark in the morning, whether the sun is shining, the rain is falling or even in worse weather.
“It takes forever,” she said. “In the winter, I’m afraid to even let them go because they’ll end up sick,” she said. “If the kids were a little older, I don’t see that it would be a problem. It’s just the little kids walking in the weather, rain, snow, sleet even sometimes. I think it’s just a little too much for them.”
But in some ways, she’s got it easy.
It could be worse.
In West Virginia, the state policy is bus transportation’s only provided for kids who live farther than 2 miles, which means Viars could be forced to walk three times farther than she does now.
She understands but is also frustrated that a child with special needs on the same block gets a bus ride daily, even though she’s only seen two children on the full-size bus.
“I would say transportation for everyone, especially with it being so dangerous these days,” she said referring to the recent crime.
Cabell County officials declined comment. They are mandated to follow policy set by the state Board of Education, which includes that 2-mile walk zone. To cut that distance would make them legally liable.
The state board refers to the written policy and said any exception are decisions made at the local level but did not elaborate.
