Kids Sighted… Walking!

Proving that modern kids still know how to put one foot in front of the other, 556 Clinton Avenue School Cougars proudly hoofed it from Chatham Square Park to their school Wednesday in celebration of International Walk to School Day. A parade of notables walked alongside them — and discussed how to make every day Walk to School Day.

Although the kids, along with parents, teachers, alders, and city officials walked only four blocks, the festive parade was designed by its organizers — the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS), the Traffic and Parking Department, and the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association — to call attention to a far longer journey toward pressing and interrelated goals.

The goals: increasing childhood activity and reducing obesity, fostering neighborhood safety so more parents feel secure letting their kids walk to school, and reducing traffic hazards and congestion so the streets of New Haven are more congenial for walking and biking in general.

Here’s the scope of the challenge according to Teddi Barra, NHPS​’s Director of Transportation: Of the school system’s some 20,000 students, only 3,000 actually walk from their homes to school. Of the other 17,000 who walk to their bus pick-up points, the average length of the walk is only three blocks. That’s not much.

“As I see it,” said Barra, as she and Clinton’s head of security R. Moore, greeted bus number 3 at the parade’s assembly point, ​“if we could get the kids to walk even one more block to their stop, that would begin to make a difference in kids’ health.”

The aim should be much higher, in the view of Fair Haven Alderwoman and officialdom’s chief promoter of pedestrian safety and traffic calming, Erin Sturgis-Pascale (pictured with her toddler Brynia, with Barra and, in the safety-conscious tangerine blouse, Ana Rodriguez, Clinton’s principal).

“Teddi and the schools are under major pressure from parents, concerned about safety, to have the buses pick up their kids even closer to their homes! The schools, of course, want to please the parents, but that is the wrong direction. Just look at what’s going on here as we walk, “ she said, as the parade moved toward the school. ​“Neighbors are peeking out and saying hello, people are drawn to people, the neighbors will get to know the kids, and a sense of community is reclaimed. At the high school I attended in Florida, if you lived within two miles of the school, you had to walk. Period.”

This young man, Dante Skinner, a proud Clinton sixth-grader, agreed. He is one of only 65 kids, out of a total 180 neighborhood kids, who walk to Clinton, according to Principal Rodriguez. What about the other 120? ​“Their parents don’t feel the neighborhood is safe enough yet, I guess,” said Rodriguez. ​“Even though in the past years, with the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, the positive changes have been wonderful, so we’re moving in the right direction.”

What does Dante get out of walking? ​“I love it,” he said. ​“The best thing is that I can walk with my friends, and nobody gets into any fights. And we get to meet new kids too, the kids who are waiting for their buses.” And he confirmed Sturgis-Pascale’s observation as well. ​“Sometimes people on the porches say hello as we pass. They’re friendly, and we say hello right back.”

Dante lives nearby on Lombard Street. This other young man, sixth-grader Lorgino Sullivan, who was carrying the Cougar placard, has a much longer walk. He lives on Chapel at James. His mom takes him to school in the morning by car, and the bus drives him home at the end of the day.

Would he be interested in walking? ​“Oh no,” came the answer, ​“my mom doesn’t think it’s safe, and I don’t either.”

One city department that has the safety issue covered is Mike Piscitelli’s Traffic and Parking Department. Piscitelli was on hand with Ann Acevedo (on the right) and Mezan King, two of the department’s 45 school crossing guards. ​“Every school,” he said, ​“has one crossing guard, ​“and the sidewalks near the schools and the cutouts are in good shape too.” What’s also in good shape, Piscitelli was proud to point out, are the guards’ safety vets. King is wearing the latest version, which all the guards will soon be donning, which is brighter and more reflective.

Piscitelli pointed out that International Walk to School Day is growing. It was his impression that New Haven was among the few, perhaps the only, school system participating in the state. According to other officials, Clinton Avenue School was selected because of the involvement of the neighborhood in community-building, the recently repaved streets and new bike lanes along Clinton, and the straight shot of four blocks from park to school. This is the 11th year of the event, which began with one school in Chicago in 1997 and now boasts more than 5,000 schools in the U.S., with an international participation of 4 million families in 42 countries.

Tthe parade made its way past the Clinton’s venerable old fa√ɬßade and turned the corner to the entryway at the new. The kids were exercised and refreshed. (The BOE​’s press release says anecdotal observations by teachers confirm kids walking to school often arrive more alert and ready than their bus-borne peers.) A brain trust gathered for an ad hoc meeting on how to follow up. The principal, along with Sturgis-Pascale, Alder-elect Joseph Rodriguez (15‑D), and Lee Cruz, of the Greater New Haven Community Foundation and a mover-and-shaker with the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, were eager to have a parade every day! How could this be done?

Cruz suggested that some of the parentssign up to maintain the momentum of what was begun today. ​“This kind of activity is not only good for the kids and the neighborhood’s safety, it helps build up a perception, an accurate one, that we’re getting safer and more secure, and perception is very important to bringing more homeowners here.”

“Well, we have so much going on already,” replied the principal. ​“You know the teachers are trying to integrate a wellness program into class, and they are doing Take Ten [an exercise program integrated into and taking place in the classroom]. But you’re right. Did you see some of our parents? It looked like half our parents haven’t walked this much in a long time themselves!”

Sturgis-Pascale suggested that people respond well to rewards. Maybe the kids and families who walk the most might win … a pair of walking shoes! Or nifty sneakers.

Tthis young mom, Sasha Ramos, was already on board. Her son Jose (beside her) was having a great time, along with his fellow kindergartener Kanai. ​“He’s obviously too young too walk on his own,” she said. ​“I drop him off in the morning, but at the end of the day, we walk home together. Jose loves to walk and to march. This was terrific.”