The Mill Valley School District SchoolPool Program
  The SchoolPool program connects families who wish to share in transporting their children to school by walking, biking or carpooling together. The MVSD SchoolPool Neighborhood Map was developed for the use of MVSD families to find other interested families in their neighborhoods for “SchoolPooling” to school.
These instructions explain how to use the SchoolPool program. Thank you for using walking, biking and carpooling alternatives when transporting your children to school. Your choice contributes to the health and safety of your children, as well as our community and the environment.
HOW TO SCHOOLPOOL: THE MVSD SCHOOLPOOL PROGRAM
As a result of the active participation of Mill Valley schools in SR2S programs, the District was chosen to pilot the Expanded SchoolPool Program in 2007. The program was successful and the next year over 500 families joined.
Here’s how the program works and how to use it:
- When families update their MVSD Directory listing they are asked to “opt in” to the SchoolPool program, indicating their interest in being contacted by other families for SchoolPooling. Families who did not “opt in” with their Directory listing are still able to participate.
- A neighborhood number is assigned to each family listing to show that they “opted in” and are interested in SchoolPooling, The numbers are in brackets (example: [4]) next to family names in the alphabetical Directory list, as well as student names in the Directory classroom lists and show what SchoolPool neighborhood they live in. (If you did not “opt in”, this year, you can still contact your neighbors who did and express your interest in SchoolPooling by following the instructions.)
- Find your Neighborhood number in the directory by your listing. (You can check the SchoolPool Map that shows neighborhood boundaries, numbers and names to ensure you are assigned in the right neighborhood for the direction you travel to school. You can enlarge the map with the zoom (%) button. Additional full-size maps will be on display in your school office and on district and school websites.)
If the neighborhood you were assigned is not the way you travel to school, look at the surrounding neighborhoods and use one of them. For instance, if you are in [4] which serves mainly Tam Valley School, but your child goes to Edna Maguire or the Middle School, you may find others going your direction to school by contacting families in [4.2] or [4.4]
- Search in the Directory classroom listings for your school, starting with your child’s classroom and grade, for the bracketed [ ] neighborhood numbers after students’ names to find other families in your neighborhood. Then look up the contact numbers for these families in the alphabetical listings. If there are not other families in your child’s grade, check the next closest grades, and so on. Usually SchoolPooling works best with children who are close in age.
- E-mail or call families in your neighborhood to discuss your interests in walking, biking and/or carpooling to school. You may want to meet at school or in your neighborhood. If you are “SchoolPooling” with a new family you don’t know yet, consider traveling together the first few times to introduce the children and to be sure that everyone is comfortable.
- For more tips, information and support for organizing your SchoolPool groups, see the SchoolPool Guidebook.
SchoolPool groups can be as casual as two families calling each other whenever it is convenient to walk together, to several children in a neighborhood riding bikes to school in a Bike Train with a parent in front and one in back. The SchoolPool Guidebook helps you to organize at whatever level you wish. If your school has a volunteer SR2S Team Leader, they can also help. (See list below .)
Please consider picking up another student on your way to school if you have extra room in your car and cannot work out a reciprocal carpool. The other families can help by paying for gas or offering rides home when possible.
BACKGROUND: MILL VALLEY AND SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOLS
Mill Valley Schools have an eight year track record of working successfully with Safe Routes to Schools programs. This organization provides programs to the schools to encourage walking, biking and carpooling to school, to improve the safety of routes to schools through infrastructure improvements, and to educate children and the community on safe driving, pedestrian and cycling habits.
These are a few of the achievements over the last few years:
- Edna Maguire posted Marin County’s largest increase in students walking, biking and carpooling (a 30% increase or 80-90 additional students per day.)
- Tam Valley School turned out 400 people on International Walk and Roll to School Day. The school received a $750,000 Safe Routes grant award to improve the safety of nearby Marin Avenue.
- Old Mill, Edna Maguire and Tamalpais High Schools also received Safe Routes grants to improve school front safety.
- Funds were granted for a bike path and other pedestrian safety improvements along Miller from Almonte to include the intersection of Miller and along Camino Alto to the Community Center.
For questions about SchoolPool or to volunteer to help with this or other fun Safe Routes to Schools programs, contact your school’s SR2S Volunteer Team Leader using the contact information below. For specific questions or comments about SchoolPool you may also contact the SR2S SchoolPool Specialist, Deborah Cole, at deborah@parisi-associates.com.
MVSD Safe Routes to Schools Team Leaders
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