Outpouring of Students and Parents for Walk to School Day

Children held signs, cardboard school buses and their parent's hands Wednesday morning at three elementary schools and one middle school in La Mesa in celebration of National Walk to School Day.  But mostly they held umbrellas.

A steady drizzle dampened streets but not spirits near Lemon Avenue Elementary as Mayor Art Madrid (wearing an orange safety patrol vest) and principal Jennifer Luibel greeted kids heading south along Glen Street.

Same for Rolando Elementary (with Councilman and second-grade teacher Mark Arapostathis), La Mesa Dale and La Mesa Middle School (with Police Chief Al Lanning and mayor candidate Laura Lothian).

Maryland Avenue School postponed its event, and others held morning walks on school grounds only—Parkway Middle School, Northmont Elementary and Murray Manor Elementary School. Those schools aren't as far along in the process of parent consultation yet, said Leah Ostenberg of WALKSanDiego.

About 150 kids and parents took part at Lemon Avenue, including one dad of three Lemon Avenue Leopards on a Segway. The 7:45 a.m. walks came at the height of the rain, leaving hand-lettered signs drenched and runny.

Afterward, three dozen parents heard parent Jo Anne Gilman and WALKSan Diego representative Juan Antonio Ramirez describe plans to make the walk a weekly event—on Wednesdays.

Contests inside and between schools for the highest percentage of walkers were held, with prizes including bikes for boys and girls. A free raffle at Lemon Avenue awarded 10 tickets to attractions at the Joan Kroc Center (such as skating and indoor climbing).

At Lemon Avenue, 76-year-old Mayor Madrid recalled that "When I walked to school, it was uphill both ways." But in adulthood, when he visited his old school, he was shocked to see the journey was only 1 1/2 blocks, he said.

When informed that only fifth-graders are allowed to be school crossing guards, Madrid said with a smile, "Mentally, I'm a fifth-grader."

He wasn't alone beaming on the rainy morning. As Lemon Avenue parents snacked on grapes and nut bread in the cafeteria, WALKSanDiego's  Ramirez highlighted the benefits of walking to school.  Besides exercise and saving on gas, parents and kids have time to connect, without electrical plug-in interefering.

"You're like talking, chatting. That's something" that helps build community, Ramirez said. He handed out photopied maps of the neighborhood and asked parents to draw the best walking routes to school.

"You are the experts in the community," Ramirez said. "You know the routes that are safe and unsafe."

The idea is to help the city plan for sidewalks and other features to make Walk to School Day every day.

Gilman, a Lemon Avenue parent volunteer, said she has been trying for six years to get sidewalks built (and electric signal installed) in the neighborhood, especially along the winding, hilly Glen Street southwest of the school, where anyone on foot has to walk in the middle of the street.

A four-year grant to the city, with three years to go, in fact will add sidewalks to the east side of Glen Street as far as Mariposa Street, Gilman said.

Principal Luibel, wearing one of the branded rubber wrist bands for the event—which all students got—said over the intercom in morning announcements: "When you see (Mrs. Gilman) in the hall, thank her. This is the start of something new. We'd like to do this every Wednesday."

Peeking out from her office as classrooms settled down to business, Luibel summed up the event: "I loved it! This is every kid's dream—to walk in the rain."