Walk & Roll to School Week celebrates people-powered transportation (PHOTOS!)
What does it feel like to walk to school with more than 100 kids?
I can tell you it’s a lot of fun, especially when a costumed zebra and City leaders join you!
That was the scene on Wednesday morning when Jean Parker Elementary School students rallied in a big way for Walk & Roll to School Week.
Jean Parker Elementary has a long history of encouraging alternative modes to get to school, and is an inspiration for other SFUSD schools. For the past 9 years, Liz Brooks, Executive Secretary at the school has organized monthly walking meetups, helping to inspire and support new habits. This meant their school community was ready to go big on their Walk & Roll to School Day!
All this week, at schools across the city, even more kids than usual are getting themselves to school in the ‘old school’ way: without a car.
Each year, thousands of students across San Francisco walk, bike, scoot, wheel, and roll to school as part of Walk & Roll to School Week.
The event builds yearlong excitement around getting to school in people-powered ways that are good for our health, climate, and communities.
Walk SF is proud to lead this event as part of our role in the SF Safe Routes to School Partnership. We support all SFUSD elementary schools for the big week, and each year have an extra-special event at a different school.
This year that event was at Jean Walker Elementary School in Chinatown. Check out photos of the fun!
Special thanks to all who made our event at Jean Parker Elementary School such a success!
First and foremost, a big thanks to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which funds and leads the SF Safe Routes to School Partnership.
We want to call out our gratitude to the many people who helped early Wednesday morning (and leading up to the event): Jean Parker Elementary School Principal, Principal Sara Saldaña, Executive Secretary, Liz Brooks, Community School Coordinator, Brian Tang, and volunteer photographer Jeffrey Gray.
It was also wonderful to have these special guests at Jean Parker: State Senator Scott Wiener; District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin; SFUSD School Board Members Jenny Lam and Lainie Motemedi; Tom Maguire, SFMTA Director of Streets Division; Commander Jones, SFPD Traffic Department; Janelle Wong, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition; and Queena Chen, Chinatown TRIP and former Jean Parker after-school program attendee.
Want to get your school doing more to support walking to school? Contact Malena at malena@walksf.org.
Banner image by Guy Joaquin
