Safe Routes to Schools
Team Leader Newsletter
March 2004

TEAM LEADER UPDATES

1. Kids Plate Grants of up to $1000 application due March 15th
2. Team Leader Meeting a Success
3. Frequent Rider Miles starts March 29th
4. SchoolPool brochures are ready
5. Sign up for Xtra classes
6. Bike Commute Week May 17-21

GENERAL NEWS

7. Legislative Alert - Support continuation of Capital grant program
8. Featured School of the Month - Pleasant Valley, Novato

TEAM LEADER UPDATES

1. Kids Plate Grants of up to $1000 due March 15th

The California Walk to School Headquarters is giving away up to$1000 in grants to schools that have expanded their Walk to School activities throughout the year. That's you! You can apply for incentive items such as prizes or zipper pulls, safety equipment like crossing guard vests and paddles and traffic cones, printing costs, etc. Time is short so get your application in today. Awards are for qualified expenses of up to $1000 (based on $100 for ever 300 students). Awardees will be notified by April, 1. Read attachment for more information.

2. Team Leader Meeting a Success

Twenty team leaders attended our pre-spring Team Leader meeting. We updated folks on the spring activities and distributed the Frequent Rider Miles cards, posters, SchoolPool Brochures and newsletters - all hot off the presses. We also had a lively discussion on how to recruit more volunteers and get more people excited about the program. A representative from Rides was there to brief folks on the SchoolPool program. Thanks to Whole Foods in San Rafael, the Good Earth and Bell Market in Fairfax, for their wonderful food donations for our team leader luncheon and for Rumi's café for the grilled veggies and salad. People loved meeting each other and even some of our seasoned Team Leaders came away with fresh ideas. We hope to plan another gathering for the end of the school year. Stay tuned. NOTICE: Those of you who left early did not get your raffle tickets for the Frequent Rider Miles contest. Contact Melanie at 456-3469 ext. 5 to pick those up.

3. Frequent Rider Miles starts March 29th

The fourth annual Frequent Rider miles contest starts March 29th and will run six weeks ending on May 14th. For those of you who are participating and did not attend the Team Leader meeting to get your cards, posters and raffle tickets contact Melanie at 456-3459 ext.5 to make arrangements. This year we will count every mode equally, count each way to school, and hold the contest for six weeks instead of eight. Each school is welcome to modify the contest to suit their own needs. Our sponsor, Trek Bicycles will be providing each school with a bike certificates, a backpack, U.S. Postal Team jersey, and other valuable prizes.

4. SchoolPool brochures are ready

Finally, the SchoolPool brochures are ready! These professional, color brochures are to be used to promote the program to your principal and school district. RIDES can create a database and web-based registration for your school where parents can sign up to connect with neighbors for carpooling, walking and/or biking together. Rides can also create a map that shows where everyone in the school lives in relation to each other. This is a great tool for promoting the program to let people know just how many potential matches are available. We have also created a mini-brochure, which is designed as a send-home to the parents from the school district or principal. The Mill Valley District will be sending these out this week and next. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District provided funding for the printing of the mini- brochure and is exploring funding for banners. If you want more information or would like to bring School Pools to your school, please contact wendi@marinbike.org

5. Sign up for Extra Classes

We have some room in our schedule to do some of our extra-curricular classes in April and May. These include environmental lessons including Family Mouse Behind the Wheel for K-1, and Transportation Choices and the Environment for Middle School. We can also do more safety art to help you prepare for National Bike Week, which is the third week in May. If you would like to get our staff into your school one more time, contact Melanie@marinbike.org.

6. Bike Commute Week, May 17-21

National Bike Commute Week is a great time to have one final celebration before the end of the school year. May 20th is Bike to Work Day and there will be publicity all over the Bay Area promoting this event. Use this opportunity to have a Walk and Roll to School Day at your school, much the same as we did for International Walk to School Day. If you have a regular weekly Walk and Roll to School Day use this opportunity to give it an extra push. We can offer Safety Art again in the week leading up to this event. This is also the week after the end of the Frequent Rider Miles contest so you can use this time to have your raffle and award the kids who participated. If you would like help setting up a Bike To School Day contact Melanie at Melanie@marinbike.org.

GENERAL NEWS

7. Legislative Alert - Support continuation of Capital grant program

The first committee hearing for SB 1087 (Soto) will be in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday, March 16th at 1:30 p.m. in Room 3191. This important legislation is a re-authorization of the existing Safe Routes to Schools legislation and would dedicate at least $20-25 million a year for Safe Routes to School Projects. This would ensure no interruption in the capital funding that has benefited schools throughout Marin. This meeting will be a major hurdle for the Safe Routes to School bill. Our supporters in Sacramento have been "making the rounds" at the Capitol to ensure support for the bill, but we still need your support:

Send in your letter of support, (sample attached). Please fax the letter to Senator Nell Soto's office (916-445-0128), and the Senate Transportation Committee (916-445-2209). Include in your letter the infrastructure needs of your school and how you are working hard doing your part to reduce traffic congestion but the capital funds are needed to increase safety at your school.

8. Featured School of the Month - Glenwood Safety Patrol

The Glenwood School Safety Patrol is comprised of 5th Graders who have turned 10 years old. It is a position of importance and honor at our school, so that many of the eligible 5th Graders participate.

In the beginning of the school year, the 5th Grade students are offered the opportunity to join the Patrol. It is a voluntary position. I initially meet with Safety Patrollers monthly for training sessions. We spend time at the various positions and have a discussion group to address their questions and concerns. They assume positions at the intersection near our school, along with an adult crossing guard, to help pedestrians safely cross the street, and in front of the school to help families cross from the parking lot. They are provided vests, whistles and stop signs to make themselves visible in their positions.

Along with on-going training, we try to recognize the Safety Patrollers in a variety of ways. These include special recognition in the Principals' monthly newsletter, in the PTA's newsletter and at Principal's Awards presentations. On the last day of their monthly rotation, they receive a treat of some kind at lunch time in view of the rest of the student population. This is always a hit! At the end of the year, they will help to train eligible 4th Graders for Patrol the following year. We will schedule a special lunch or outing for them, where they will receive pins in recognition of their efforts.

Adult volunteers are recruited at the beginning of the year. Many fifth grade parents do it because their kids are involved. We schedule 10 people per week, one per morning or afternoon, and have a list of additional subs available. We try to work around their schedules, so that they are assigned a time when they would regularly be picking up or dropping off anyway. They are trained at the beginning of the year on an "on the job training". There is actually a different coordinator for the adults and she usually stations herself with a new person the first week or hooks them up with someone who's done it before.

Many parents feel it is a fairly easy commitment (15 minutes a week) with high visibility!

Betsy Nakamura

Safe Routes to Schools is a program funded by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and administered by the County of Marin on behalf of the Marin County Congestion Management Agency and the County, Cities and Towns of Marin

Department of Public Works o County of Marin o P. O. Box 4186 o San Rafael, CA 94913-4186