Hike to School Wednesday Not Just Pedestrian Feat for Local Children

For some La Mesa children, it's just another daily stroll. But Wednesday's National Walk to School Day is the culmination of an effort involving local schools and the city of La Mesa worth nearly $1 million.

Many families are taking part in La Mesa Kids Walk 'N' Roll to School program, introduced in eight of La Mesa-Spring Valley's 21 elementary and middle schools more than a year ago.

Designed in part to help ailing schools, the four-year partnership between WALKSan Diego, La Mesa-Spring Valley schools and the city allows the city to apply for state and federal grants that can be used for needed infrastructure. 

So far, the city has secured two grants totaling almost $1 million, and the money has already been allocated. A portion will go toward the local program costs, and $522,300 will be used for a new sidewalk on Glen Street, stretching from Lemon to Alpine avenues and connecting two existing sidewalks. The sidewalk is expected to make that busy pedestrian corridor more safely accessible on foot.

"That's been a long time coming," said Mark Arapostathis, Rolando Elementary School teacher and a La Mesa councilman. "I used to walk over that hill and you're in the middle of the street."

Walk 'N' Roll to School also addresses the growing national concern of child obesity and educates parents about the seemingly endless advantages that come from a child's regular participation in a supervised walk to school. 

Aside from physical wellness, a new social forum is created that can promote lasting relationships. In addition, more activity in the neighborhood means a more outwardly lively community, which has been seen in other U.S. cities to improve neighborhood vigilance, strengthen community morale and lower crime.

Principal Guido Magliato of Murray Manor Elementary, a school that began its involvement with Walk 'N' Roll in August, is optimistic about the program, but has reservations about National Walk to School Day and its implications.

"I don't want parents to confuse this—like all of a sudden we're saying it's a safe route to school," Magliato said.

Working with WALKSanDiego, a group that encourages wellness and provides programming, workshops and outreach to La Mesa city schools, Magliato sent surveys home to parents in mid-September in an effort to assess concerns. They were scheduled for review, after which a parent conference will be held to address  issues and discuss solutions.

While he's not going to push children to walk to school Wednesday, Magliato shows his support for the event from the controlled environment of the school's lower field. 

There he's launching a daily walk/jog program that starts 30 minutes before school and offers incentives to children or classes that achieve notable mile markers over the school year. Northmont Elementary and La Mesa Dale are following suit.

"I'm glad that everybody's participating at their comfort level," Arapostathis said. "The participation part of it is what's important."

One of the biggest hurdles Walk 'N' Roll  faces in the next three years of the program is educating parents so they feel comfortable allowing their children to walk to school. To deal with this, WALKSanDiego suggests several ideas and offers various resources to schools as the program continues to develop.

One such solution is a "walking school bus."

A walking school bus "driver," trained by the Police Department's School Safety Patrol program, has various "stops" along a city-approved route where children "climb aboard." Whether a child is walked to the stop location by their parent or travels alone is a decision made by parents.

Kim Shannon, the city's coordinator of Safe Routes to School, said the city's interest in the program's success and its willingness to provide the necessary training and equipment, such as vests and signage, is mainly in response to recent transportation budget cuts. 

La Mesa Middle School and Parkway Middle School have lost busing, noticeably increasing car congestion at drop-off and pickup times.

"It's part of the city's way of helping address those issues, aside from sidewalks and the infrastructure," Shannon said.

It's doubtful the busing situation will improve soon, either. In fact, with more budget cuts scheduled in upcoming months, Arapostathis said elementary schools are likely to see a substantial reduction in busing as soon as next year. 

"More and more kids are going to have to walk to school," said Arapostathis, better known as Dr. A, "or they're going to have to find alternative transportation."

In the meantime, a grass-roots movement is taking form. Though it started with the city, the hope is that it will grow into an organic network of parents who learn what ideas best fit the culture of their school.

"We want it to be a parent-led approach so that there's sustainability," said La Mesa's Shannon, "because once the city's [involvement is] gone and the grant's gone, we hope that these concepts will still be alive."

Rolando Elementary is well on its way.  After just one year of Walk 'N' Roll involvement, Arapostathis estimates that almost 70 of its 527 children walk to school. Participation like that is what the year-round program is about, celebrated by National Walk to School Day.

"I think that it's a success if we double our walkers that day," he said. "I think our participation in it is a success to begin with."