Hundreds of Rohnert Park Children Participate in International Walk and Roll Day

Talk of the Town - Rohnert Park
Posted by Joelle Burnette

Hundreds of children throughout Rohnert Park took part in International Walk and Roll to School Day this morning as a way to get cars off the roads and promote walking to school. These students joined more than 3,200 schools registered to participate across the nation along with students from more than 40 nations to celebrate the many benefits of safely walking and bicycling to school, and to encourage more families to consider getting out of the car and onto their feet on the way to school.

“I think this is wonderful because I wouldn’t let my son do this by himself,” said Susie Bigall. She and her son Jonathon were one of the first to arrive at the closed Gold Ridge School campus, the designated meeting place for Evergreen School families in “G” neighborhood and one of the eight organized groups heading to five different elementary schools. Once children and parents gathered at the Gold Ridge parking lot, everyone walked together to Evergreen.

“I think we have six parents walking with us, so you don’t have to feel uneasy,” Laurel Guerra told her friend (Bigall) who was one of several parents to drop off their children for the hike.

“Kids aren’t getting the exercise they need,” said Bigall. Still, working at a local hospital, she said her senses are heightened to the sounds of sirens and it makes her nervous to allow her fourth-grader to walk to school when she regularly hears sirens in the morning in Rohnert Park.

But allowing her son to walk in what the Safe Routes to School program calls “walking school buses” leaves her feeling like “It’s safer for my child to get to school in one piece,” she said. She added, she’d like to see the school/parents do this walk more often, even more than once per week.

“You need something by design, not by chance,” Guerra said in support of today’s event. Having been a Gold Ridge School parent before it was closed, her older children had a shorter walk to school than her first-grader Giovanna has to Evergreen. The greater distance and security issues related to walking to school so far away are concerns for many parents like Guerra.

The tricky part is getting parents to participate on a regular basis, according to Tina Panza, the director of the countywide Safe Routes to School program. The walking school bus is the most difficult part of the program to maintain, she said, but by offering educational information to families and providing an online referrals system that safely connects parents who would like to develop walk, bike ride or driven carpools to school, we may begin seeing more mornings like today at Evergreen where there wasn’t the usual bumper to bumper traffic, nor the tight parking availability.

Several parents I spoke to all liked the social aspect of the walking school bus, saying it promotes meeting neighbors and helps children make friends so they can walk to school in groups in the future.

“I think it’s great,” said Betty Hotaling (better known by many as Miss Betty from the Tot Time preschool at the Rohnert Park community center). She was walking her granddaughter Siana Poti to Evergreen. Her only concern was if Siana, a kindergartener, would make it the entire route without wanting to be carried.

Once everyone was signed in with a parent coordinator, the group of nearly 40 people left for Evergreen. Walking across Snyder Lane at Golf Course Drive, nearly all the children made it across while all the cars at the busy intersection waited for the parade to cross; all but one car, that is.

Not quite all the children made it across by the time the Snyder Lane lights turned green, and just as the last few children and adults were crossing, screeching tires were heard before a small car sped through the intersection using the open right lane on the northbound side of the road. From across the road, I could hear parents saying “Whoa!“ and a mom yelling, “Are you kidding me?” After all the recent crosswalk accidents in Petaluma resulting in people getting hit by cars, I’m glad to say, no one was hurt in this incident.

Over at Evergreen, swarms of children and parents arrived at the school and there was an abundance of parking available for the few cars arriving to drop off children.

Mixed in with a group arriving from “S” neighborhood, Tom Cirmele walked with his kindergartener and said they met neighbors they never knew they had.

Robine Madsen also has a son in kindergarten and she agreed, “It’s a good way to bring people together.”

Cirmele’s only wish was the school would have communicated the event better. He didn’t find out about the event until last night and would like to see more modern communication used via the school website or e-mail blasts to parents.

“They’re communicating the way they did when I was a kid,” he said. Regardless, he said of the event, “I think this is pretty cool.”

Amy Jolly said there have been many posters at the schools and fliers going home with the children. Jolly is the Safe Route to School coordinator for Rohnert Park.

Maureen Buckley was one of the moms walking with daughter Claire who was holding a sign leading their group to the school. They live close by and walk most mornings. “It wakes my kid up in the morning,” Buckley said.

Many parents commented on the benefits of that morning burst of energy and added, while it was a little difficult waking their children a little earlier today, the children were excited to take part in the event.

According to the National Center for Safe Routes to School, walking and rolling to school embodies two main goals of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign: to increase our children’s physical activity and to empower parents to make healthy choices.

Watching as her students arrived at the Evergreen playground, Principal Gaylene Rosaschi said she wants to do more walk and roll days at the school. “It was fantastic. It was a great event,” she said with enthusiasm. There are plans to have monthly walking school buses at her school.

Speaking with some of the parents who drove today, Christina Hayman lives on south Rohnert Park Expressway and said, “It’s sad because my son really wanted to walk.” She had another obligation preventing her from participating today, but would like to join the walks in the future.

Amanda P. said she lives in “A” neighborhood and would have liked to join the walk. Next time, she said, she’ll park at one of the meeting spots and walk the remainder with her kindergartener.

Did you participate in Walk and Roll Day? Did you walk with you child, join a walking school bus? Do you want more of these events at your school? Tell about your experience with Walk and Roll Day.

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