Walking School Buses Get Kids Moving, Alert, and Ready to Learn
Blue Zones Project Jacksonville launched it's first Walking School Bus at Normandy Village Elementary School
Forty years ago, over 60 percent of elementary school students in America walked to school. Now, less than 15 percent of elementary kids walk to school. Research shows that children who walk to school are more alert and ready to learn.
Until walkable communities again become the norm, a Walking School Bus program helps to recreate some of the positive side effects of walking to and from school. Blue Zones Project Jacksonville works with local schools to help implement healthy options.
A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school together. For elementary students, the group is accompanied by one or more adults. It can be as informal as a few families doing a “carpool” without a car or as formal as a mapped out walking route with regular meeting points, times, and volunteers.
Benefits of Walking School Buses
- Increase in daily physical activity for students, helping to form healthy habits
- Pedestrian experience and education for students
- Students who are alert, awake, and ready to learn
- Reduction in traffic congestion around schools
- Increase in family and community engagement and positive social opportunities for students, families, teachers, and community volunteers
- Solution for families concerned about unsafe walking routes
