October is Walk to School Month: How to organize a Walk to School event

You want to organize a Walk to School event at your local school. What are the steps you should take?

October is Walk to School month in Missouri, and schools across the state hold Walk to School Day events.

Walk to School Day

• A walking plan: Starting point & route or alternative
  • Starting point: Need a gathering or drop-off point near start (many parents will drop-off kids or drive & park)
  • Route: 1/2 mile to 1 mile is ideal
  • Alternative: Rather than having a special route, organize a "Family Walk to School Day" and encourage parents to walk their normal route to school with their kids that day. Have snacks, prizes, activities, recognition once they arrive.
  • Bused kids: Have them dropped off at your route start point OR use the normal drop-off place at the school but have them walk out & back along the walk-to-school route or walk a route on school grounds.
• A date and time
  • Any time during Walk to School Month (October) is good
  • Oct 3rd is International Walk to School Day
  • But!!! Pick the particular day/date that works best for your school - you don't need to stick with October 3rd or even the month of October if that time frame doesn't work for you. Most schools in Missouri do their events on a different day or even in a different month.
  • Weather Day: Some walk rain or shine, some announce a 2nd/alternative day in case of bad weather, some provide an alternate activity (walk inside in the school gym) in case of rain
• A simple flyer or way to announce the event
  • Many adaptable samples in resources (links below)

Once you have the Three Essentials, send the flyer home with students the week before the event. Invite students, parents, teachers, and staff to participate.  Mention it during school announcements several times during the week before the event.

If you have the Three Essentials and let students, parents, and staff know about your event, you will have a fun and successful Walk to School Day event with 25-100 participants.  And if you keep doing the event each year, it will grow each year.

Things that are helpful - if you have extra time and resources:

• Police escort - your local police department will be happy to help, and having the police there helps make it more of a fun event for students
• Snacks or something fun to do once the group arrives at school
• Give students a sticker or small prize for participating
• Invite local politicians and dignitaries - mayor, city council, school board, school district staff
• Invite fun participants--local team mascot, celebrities
• Have students make and carry posters
• Invite local media - just a simple email or phone call to local media with who, what, where, and when
• Student activities/projects in weeks leading up to the event - many examples in resources

Ideas from Around Missouri:

• Getting parents to walk with students is essential--one reason the alternative 'Walk with Your Child to School Day' rather than having one set route with a drop-off point is a good suggestion.  Many parents have never walked to school with their children.  Once they try it they are more likely to realize they have a good, safe route that children can walk regularly or that there are problems on the route that they can work get the fixed.
• Print out a large map of the area around the school (one mile radius, poster-print from Google maps) mount on poster board and have students put in a push-pin showing where they walked from
• Teacher incentives and prizes to encourage teacher participation--both for those teachers who walk and those teachers who use some of the resources and materials to get their classes involved and warmed up before the event.  The teacher prizes can be things like classroom materials.
• Golden Shoe Award: Given to class with highest participation rate
• Pedestrian safety assembly in lead-up week - helps promote the event and teach basic ped safety; materials & ideas in resource links (below).
• Your local Safe KIds Coalition may be able to help with organizing your event, providing prizes or incentives, and safety/education materials. 

Walk to School Day Resources

• Missouri Walk to School Month resources
• Step by step detailed instructions for organizing your own local Walk to School Day, provided by PedNet, Columbia:
• • Walk to School Day planning checklist
  • Response form
  • Drawing entry form/participation form
  • Walk to School Day Flyer (generic flyer that can be modified for your event)
• The National Walk to School Day web site has planning materials, sample press releases, sample posters, a media list for your area, and a complete how-to outline for organizing your Walk to School Day.

Thanks to the participants in the Missouri Safe Routes to School Coalition conference call on organizing a Walk to School event for many of the tips and ideas presented in this article. Participants included several organizations that are planning or helping coordinate Walk to School events in Missouri: Safe Kids Springfield, PedNet, Missouri Department of Health, Pioneer Trails Regional Planning Commission, City of Warrensburg, Trailnet, and others.