Parents and officials around the country are waiting until September to see how the current generation of suburban chauffeured students will respond to walking to school.Hundreds of school districts from Massachusetts to California have been forced to make big-budget cuts this year, and compounded with the high price of fuel, bus routes were some of the first expenses to been crossed off the list.
Cities and towns have responded by increasing the distances from which students are expected to walk. In many places, it’s 1 to 1.5 miles for elementary school students and 2 miles for high school students.
Encouraging more kids to walk has more benefits than just saving money for the school districts. There will be less pollution from the diesel fuel used by school buses, kids will get more exercise and become more oriented in their communities.
The new effort does have some detractors, however. Mary Day, a mother from Shirley, Mass. expressed her concern to CNN. "I remember being a kid," Day says. "Are you going to walk a half-mile down the street to cross in the appropriate way when you see a clear way right there?"
She worries that her sons will come into contact with traffic and train tracks on their way home from school each day. Like many working parents, she can drive them to school inn the morning, but cannot pick them up in the afternoon.
Julie Hatchel, a spokeswoman for a California school district, explains the reasoning behind the unpopular cuts. "Our goal was to keep those cuts as far away from the classroom as possible," she adds.
--Bridget O'Sullivan
