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Stafford school system hopes to encourage students to walk to school Date published: 10/2/2009
BY JEFF BRANSCOME Stafford County students who live a mile or less from school may walk instead of riding the bus in the near future. The division is considering infrastructure improvements near several elementary and middle schools--such as adding sidewalks, paths, crosswalks and signs --so more kids can walk or bicycle to class. As a result, Stafford schools Chief Facilities Officer Scott Horan said bus service could be eliminated in those areas. However, some parents have safety concerns with children walking to school. Horan said he expects some of the improvements to be in the division's travel plan. The School Board is scheduled to review the plan at its meeting Oct. 27 and approve it in November. The division hopes to pay for the projects with grants from the federally funded Safe Routes to School Program. Administrators plan to apply for the money in December. The school system has proposed improvements near 12 schools: Rocky Run, Kate Waller Barrett, Hampton Oaks, Garrisonville, Rockhill, Park Ridge, Falmouth and Anthony Burns elementary schools; and Rodney Thompson, Gayle, A.G. Wright and H.H. Poole middle schools. The school system's Web site originally said the proposals would expand or establish areas without bus service. But Horan said he recently learned that the division can receive Safe Routes to School grants even if it doesn't eliminate bus stops. The program's purpose is to encourage healthy lifestyles. At the earliest, Stafford would make infrastructure improvements over the summer. The School Board could then consider doing away with bus service, but Horan said such a decision is at least a year away. Some students who attend Park Ridge, Hampton Oaks and Kate Waller Barrett elementary schools and Gayle and Rodney Thompson middle schools already do not receive bus service because they live too close to school. The division may expand no-bus zones for those schools after the proposed infrastructure improvements. Separately, the school system might consider additional no-bus zones next year as a cost-saving measure, but Horan said it will have nothing to do with the Safe Routes to School Program. Nationally, an increasing number of school systems are dropping bus stops to save money. About 23 percent of school districts surveyed by the American Association of School Administrators say they are reducing or eliminating school transportation for 2009-10. That's up from 14 percent last year. Sharon Deveney, vice president of Rocky Run Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Organization, says she has several concerns with making students walk, including safety and inconveniencing working parents. "We don't allow kids out for recess when the weather is too extreme," she wrote in an e-mail. "We should not have them walking to school in such temperatures or conditions either." Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 10/2/2009
Have you seen Conway Elementary School? GEEZ, the school backs up to the neighborhood. It was only supposed to be a bused school while all of the construction was being completed. It's time these kids walked. It is rediculous to bus kids who can easily walk on sidewalks to school. Let's spend money on materials for teachers rather than gas to bus kids who can walk to school.
then go on back to your normal little western PA town, we are talking about VA.....geeeeesh...that is half the problem....newcomers wanting things THEIR way..make the changes and then BE GONE FROM THE AREA with the locals stuck with the changes!!!
Nope - not embellished at all. That's the facts Jack. No I didn't walk uphill both ways. But everything else is right on the mark. It was all normal and a part of life in my little Western, PA town.
Grafton Elementary School rest right on Deacon Road with Dixon Smith right behind it. Deacon Road is not safe for any children walking or playing near. We don't allow our child to play near Deacon. There are no sidewalks and with the housing growth traffic is crazy. Our child plays soccer and excercises on a regular routine to keep in shape. She doesn't need to walk to and from school daily. Most parents fear for their children's safety especially pre daylight. Find another way to save money.
This issue should be broken down for the schools involved, I can only speak for Rocky Run and based on the areas the children will be required to walk, it will not be safe. It will take more than the entire grant to make those two paths safe. All of this was covered at the meeting last Monday...hopefully, Scott was listening! And transportation officials should be listening too. We parents are taxpayers too, why should our bus service be cut out? This is a bad idea for RRES Go look for yourself, pls.
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