Bike/Walk to School Day this Wednesday May 4th

On May 4th three Walnut Creek schools (Walnut Acres Elementary, Valle Verde Elementary and Foothill Middle School) will be participating in National Bike to School Day***.

Biking or walking to school is fun, healthy, reduces stress, is good for the environment and builds independent children.

There will be hundreds of children and parents participating, walking and pedaling along the sidewalks to school.

This is an organized effort to encourage more families to try out a new healthy habit. By creating a "critical mass" of pedestrians and bicyclists, we hope to increase awareness and safety! When they arrive at the schools, students will check in to be counted and receive prizes from Street Smarts Diablo including stickers, pins and pencils.

One of the biggest deterrents to walking to school is concern about traffic dangers, and there have been serious accidents involving pedestrians in the area. This event is one piece of efforts by a local collaboration to create Safe Routes to Schools. Working together, the City of Walnut Creek, Walnut Acres Elementary, Foothill Middle School, and neighbors are also implementing street safety improvements such as a new bike lane, speed display, and eventually pedestrian lighted beacons. Parents have also requested that the city fully fund crossing guards in the 2016-18 budget.

Students are reminded to use Street Smarts to stay safe while biking, skateboarding, riding scooters and walking:

· Wear helmets,

· Ride on the right side of the road (go in the same direction as traffic),

· Stop at red lights and stop signs,

· Make eye contact with other drivers,

· When walking: Use crosswalks and Stop, Look, & Listen before crossing streets!

Parents are reminded to use Street Smarts while driving in the 25 MPH school zone. Your children - and their classmates - are worth the extra time it takes to drive safely.

***Bike to School Day is a one-day event organized by the National Center for Safe Routes to School and Street Smarts Diablo (a bicycle and pedestrian safety program available to all public schools in Antioch, Brentwood, Clayton, Concord, Martinez, Oakley, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek and unincorporated areas of the county.)

Cherise Khaund

President

Walnut Acres Parent Faculty Club

president@walnutacrespfc.net