Students across Minnesota walk or roll to school
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At approximately 7:10 a.m. Wednesday morning, a group of young students started their walk to Expo Elementary School in St. Paul.
The walking group was organized by parents for about 15 kids in the neighborhood to make the 10-minute walk down Warwick Street to the school. For a lot of the kids in the group this is their every day routine, but for others this walk is a special occasion because Wednesday is Walk or Bike to School Day.
“I love walking to school, but we don’t do it that often,” said 6-year-old Liam Gebreab.
Liam normally gets driven to school in a car, but today he gets to walk to celebrate the “holiday.” For the last week, he heard his teachers promoting Walk or Bike to School Day.
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“We just like getting our feet exercise and walking with our friends and everything like that,” Liam said.
Expo Elementary is one of about 200 schools registered for the event in Minnesota — more than Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota combined. The event was created to encourage kids to be active, learn to respect the environment and also bring awareness to pedestrian safety.
On Wednesday’s walk, fifth grader Ingrid Pelton is on School Patrol — a student-led club that helps keep their peers safe walking to school and at bus drop off. Ingrid said she’s proud to wear the bright orange reflective vest and carry the large flag that reads “STOP!” at crosswalks.
She started walking to Expo last year, but since it was her family’s first winter in Minnesota they didn’t continue in the colder months.
“But I think I’m gonna walk all through the year this year,” Ingrid said. “I like just being in nature and walking with friends in the morning. Seeing people more and I like helping people and keeping them safe.”
Her school patrol partner Kai Jin agrees.
“It’s a great community and I love seeing everybody,” the fourth grader said.
He was also excited to share other perks to walking to school: a sweet treat on the way back home.
“There’s actually a bubble tea [shop], sometimes on special occasions or like a holiday we go get some bubble tea after when we walk home. So that’s nice,” Kai said.
At the entrance of Expo Elementary on Wednesday, students stream in on foot, bikes, roller blades and hoverboards. They’re greeted by their principal John Bjoraker who hands out stickers that say “I Walked or Rolled!”
“I think it was a really great turnout,” Bjoraker said. “It's so great to see the community come together to make sure kids are getting to school safely, especially during the beginning of the school year.”
A quarter of Expo Elementary students walk or bike to school daily and school administrators have measures in place to keep kids safe, but that doesn’t mean the routes are perfect. In cooler months it’s dark in the mornings and visibility can be low. Bridgette Dutkowski and her husband walk their three kids to school every day, but it can be challenging in the fall and winter.
“Early morning it’s been hard with the visibility and I understand that but even with the school patrol flags, even with the crosswalk, we’ve still had a few close calls,” Dutkowski said. “We’ve been sworn at, honked at, rude gestures when we’re walking our children to and from school. So that’s a little frustrating.”
She and other parents have also reached out to the city to add more stop signs or flashing lights to busy intersections. But even with the challenges, Dutkowski says she wouldn’t trade walking for the car.
“There’s something really nice about spending the first 10 minutes with my kids,” she said. “It’s easier to start the day rather than just with coffee. It’s a nice little exercise. I get to hang out with my husband and I get to hang out with my kids, I get to talk with my neighbors.”
In Minnesota, Walk or Bike to School Day is part of the Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School initiative which works to promote walkable and bikeable cities through infrastructure and education.
Dave Cowan, the state’s coordinator for the program, said this day is just one part of their efforts.
“The Safe Routes program has grant funding available for what we call planning assistance, boost grants, implementation, infrastructure grants for changing the built environment around schools,” Cowan said. “That’s things like adding sidewalks and crossings and trails to make it safer and easier for kids to travel to and from school on foot.”
The majority of schools registered for Walk or Bike to School Day are concentrated in metro areas but the Safe Routes program works throughout the whole state.
Cowan said MnDOT also launched an initiative in 2020 to address personal safety concerns related to walking to school and have since funded a program in Minneapolis to develop a youth-led street harassment curriculum. Cowan said getting kids to walk to school helps build community and reduces stress for kids and their parents.
“Frankly, I think we’re facing a bit of a public health crisis, with our children physically, emotionally and mentally,” Cowan said. “Safe routes to school isn’t just a transportation initiative. It’s a holistic approach to improving child wellbeing.”
He asks drivers to be mindful of children walking, so more students can reap the benefits of walking or riding to school. Their next event, Cowan said, is uniquely Minnesotan — Winter Walk to School Day in February.
