More on (Maryland) Walk to School

At a regional bike and pedestrian committee meeting, I was somewhat derisive of the description of an about to be launched research project in the State of Maryland to determine barriers to walking and biking at the school level.

I said it's really quite simple. (I learned this because one of the schools in the county is a national best practice example of a walk to school program, whether or not they have won any awards. But they do this with almost no support from the school district, even though the county Department of Public Works has assisted them with physical improvements. While the Federal Safe Routes to School program does have grant monies available, the County doesn't like to participate in the program because they believe that the voluminous reporting requirements take more time than the money is worth.)

Have the State Department of Education and the state school funding mechanisms require and support balanced transportation/mobility planning at the level of the school district.

There are 24 school districts (each county, plus Baltimore City) in the state. In the five largest school districts (Baltimore City, Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel) there are 875 schools and centers (about 2/3 are elementary schools). Does it make sense to deal with each school individually, creating 875 individualized walk to school programs, or to mandate that the central transportation office within each of the _five_ school districts, has to plan for this, providing services and programs to each of the schools in the district?

The answer, if you are a systems thinker, should be obvious.

Until today, I thought that Seattle Public Schools was absolutely amazing because they have walk to school maps for every elementary school and a district-wide School Traffic Safety Committee.

It turns out that this is a requirement mandated by the State of Washington for all school districts in the state. See the School Administrator's Guide to School Walk Routes and Student Pedestrian Safety by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

It's an amazing document. From the manual:

Who is responsible for developing school walk routes?

In Washington State, school districts are responsible for developing a walking route for each elementary school in their district where children walk to and from school. Walk routes are often developed as part of a comprehensive student pedestrian safety plan and are best addressed by building community partnerships between school administrators and local public works agencies, local law enforcement agencies, legislative representatives, school-parent organizations, parents, and students. Working collaboratively with community partners ensures that any pedestrian safety concern can be addressed by a variety of solutions.

The manual discusses the various administrative laws, how the State Legislature changed the funding authorizations for "hazardous walking conditions" away from bus service and towards improvements such as signage, sidewalks, crossing guards, and the like--improvements that also served the neighborhoods beyond the schooling function, and a whole lot more.

Similarly, the Bear Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado, working in part with the very progressive City Transportation Department, Go Boulder, has people in the school transportation department tasked with developing and supporting walk to school and bike to school programs (Safe Routes to School Program), complemented by others who support the school bus transportation program. But it's a school district level function within the Transportation Department, not some ad hoc thing pursued by each school individually.

If you want successful programs, build the systems necessary to yield excellent outcomes, as efficiently and as simply as possible. Don't rely on the good will of individuals.