Safe Routes to School in Fairfax
A resource for Safe Routes to School activiites
FABB is working with parents, school administrators, and other organizations to encourage more Fairfax students to walk and bike to school. We are supporting International Walk to School Day and Bike to School Day events in the county. Other events include Vienna's Walking Wednesdays and Wolfies Bike Train.
The Safe Routes to School Program in Virginia is managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Several Fairfax schools have received SRTS funds to promote walking and biking to school and to help fill in gaps in the walk/bike network leading to school.
A major goal is for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to hire a full time SRTS coordinator. That person would work with all interested county and city schools to promote walking and biking to school, bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, and prioritizing infrastructure improvements to create safe walk/bike routes. FCPS recently submitted a SRTS application to obtain funding for a SRTS coordinator.
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) - General Info
- Bicycle Riding to School—Office of Safety and Security Fact Sheet with guidelines for students who ride to school.
- Policy on busing and walking to school—1 mile for ES, 1.5 miles for MS and HS.
- School Board members—Can be used to contact school board members about bicycling to school, including Safe Routes to School.
- School Directory—Search on Name, Level or Type (HS, MS, ES), Clusters (8) or Pyramids (24), or by Special Programs
- School Maps on FFX Co website—Scroll down to Public Schools. Maps of Clusters, Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, and Administrative Areas.
- SRTS Page—Extensive information about SRTS in Fairfax County Public Schools
- Title 1 schools—General information about the program, in which schools have at least 40% of students who enroll in the free and reduced lunch program.
- Transportation Alternatives sub-committee report—2007 report that contains recommendations for "community/grass roots organization to promote and advocate for needed changes in attitudes and in walk/bike road safety improvements, community by community."
FCPS Bike Curriculum
- FCPS Grade 1 bike curriculum—Introductory bicycle safety information. One lesson, Area: Personal Health and Safety, Topic: Safe and Unsafe Places to Play. Includes Bicycle Safety Situation Cards and Smart Bicycling sheet with 10 safety tips.
- FCPS Grade 5 bike curriculum—Two 45 minute lessons under Injury Prevention. Lesson one includes Parts of a Bicycle, Helmet Safety, Fitting a bicycle, and Safe Rules of Riding a Bicycle. Lesson two includes Hand Signals, Traffic Signs, and Rules of the Raod. Students create a Safety Booklet.
- FCPS Grade 7 bike curriculum—One page of safety tips under Healthy Choices>Safety Rules for Outdoor Recreational Activities.
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Info
- Community Profiles—contained in the report Safe Routes to School Putting Traffic Safety First.
- FABB blog - SRTS-related info
- Fairfax Schools receiving SRTS Mini grants
- Centreville ES, Centreville
- Lake Anne ES, Reston
- Daniels Run ES, Fairfax
- Graham Road ES, Falls Church
- Hunters Woods ES, Reston
- Kent Gardens ES, McLean
- Louise Archer ES, Vienna
- Marshall Road ES, Vienna
- Vienna ES
- Fairfax Schools receiving regular SRTS grants (search using Nation Center for SRTS site)
- Terra Centre ES—Infrastructure
- Lynbrook ES—Non-Infrastructure
- Cunningham Park ES—Infrastructure
- Louise Archer ES—Planning/Startup
- Fairfax SRTS Facebook page—Maintained by the ad hoc SRTS coalition
- National Center for SRTS: Virginia—Includes contact information for Robert Williams, the VDOT SRTS coordinator.
- National Partnership for Safe Routes to School blog
- Safe Routes to School Guide—Steps to Creating a Safe Routes to School Program, developed by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) and maintained by the National Center for Safe Routes to School.
- Virginia funding for SRTS—All funded projects from 2007-2010
- Virginia Network—Sponsored by the SRTS National Partnership—Provides technical assistance to Virginia communities who apply for SRTS funding from VDOT.
- VDOT Safe Routes to School Program—Virginia SRTS program for distributing federal funding.
- Washington Region Safe Routes Greater blog
Media Coverage
- In May, WAMU's Metro Connection interviewed FABB's Jeff Anderson and two of his three children for the feature From A To B: Families Try To Bring Back Walking, Biking To School, which ran on NPR.
- In June, Nike sent a photographer to capture the Wolftrap ES Bike Train as part of a larger report, Designed to Move: A Physical Activity Action Agenda. The SRTS section of the report (page 78) contains a photo of Wolfie's bike train.
- Bicycling magazine published a report on biking to school and included a picture of the Anderson peloton as representative of kids who can and do bike to school (section 7).
- In August, Wolfie's Bike Train was featured in the article Uphill Ride: Kids and Their Parents Show the Way to Cycle Safely to School in Landscape Architecture magazine.
- In September, Nickelodeon sent two film crews to Wolftrap ES to film the bike train and to profile Carina Anderson (6th grader at Wolftrap ES) as part of their 30 min special on I Play Because...
- The Vienna Patch covers the Vienna Bike/Walk Challenge. Fairfax County Police Department bike patrol members rode with Wolfie's Bike Train. Vienna ES won the challenge and has great support from everyone. Marshall Road and Louise Archer both had banner rookie years.
- Video: Wolfie's Bike Train—Video is part of Vienna Patch article on biking to Wolftrap Elementary School.
- Fun shots taken by a pro photographer friend of FABB.
- How One Parent Made Biking a Priority for Fairfax County Public Schools—National Wildlife Federation article on Jeff's efforts to get more kids on bikes
- Vienna parent's bike-to-school message spreads: Five-year-old program promotes health, environmental awareness for kids—Fairfax Times article on getting more kids to bike to school in Fairfax.
Resources
- Bicycling to School - Model policy—from the Rutgers SRTS Resource Center.
- Cycling Skills for Children—Description of the LAB Bicycling 123 Youth Cycling Clinic produced by Bicycling Advocacy of Central Arkansas.
- NWF Eco Schools Transportation Pathways—National Wildlife Federation's international initiative designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment.
- Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design—A Guide for Public Health Practitioners and Livable Community Advocates.
- SLEEP study on later high school start times.
- Video: Safe Bicycling from a Kid's Eye View—DVD available from the League of American Bicyclists. There is also a Spanish version.
- Walk and Bike to School Day
