schools

We’re missing out on a lot by not incorporating the needs of children and the need for play (for people of all ages and abilities) in city planning and development.

Instead of paving over schoolyards, D.C. may just issue special street-parking permits to teachers near urban schools.

An Atlanta suburb wants to build a new school in a walkable setting, but with a huge surface parking lot.

A first-of-its-kind program in Arlington, Virginia, uses incentives to encourage teachers to carpool, walk, or bike to school.

The more kids get driven to school instead of walking, the more chaotic the drop-offs and pick-ups become. Greater Greater Washington's Matthew Kohler notes that the rise of school choice policies adds a whole new wrinkle, as students shift from neighborhood schools within walking distance to schools farther away.

Lately, American schools have been pretty responsive to public health and safety threats facing children. Witness the rise of peanut butter bans or the dwindling number of vending machines in schools.

All around the country, and especially in suburban areas, safety conscious parents often keep their kids indoors, off what many fear to be dangerous streets. As a result, many fewer children are walking and cycling, with grave consequences for the nation's health. The Active Transportation Alliance has long tried to offset this trend in a small way, by offering a few bicycle safety education programs for kids in partnership with towns like Oak Park and Wilmette.

The inner Cleveland suburb of Lakewood (population 51,000) calls itself a "walking school district." Lakewood has never had school buses in its history, and kids grow up walking and biking to school. Mornings and afternoons are a beehive of activity on streets near schools, as kids and parents walk to and from classrooms. You can feel the energy. The freedom of being able to walk and socialize with friends is incalculable. According to city planner Bryce Sylvester, Lakewood strives to design neighborhoods so that all children are within walking distance of their school. These decisions have paid off financially, saving the city about a million dollars annually, according to Lakewood City School District spokesperson Christine Gordillo.