Keyport discusses idea for walking school bus Proponents say program would be healthy and good for the environment BY TAMMY McKILLIP Correspondent TAMMY MCKILLIP Dan Smith speaks with fellow Keyport residents at a meeting last week about organizing groups of children and chaperones to walk to school together. KEYPORT - If Board of Education candidate Dan Smith has his way, the borough's collective carbon footprint would be minimized by the pitter-patter of little feet - hundreds of them. Smith, along with Councilman Joseph Sheridan, hosted a meeting at the town's senior center on Feb. 28 to discuss the idea of a "walking school bus" with Police Capt. Thomas Mitchell, Recreation Committee member Cecil Bright and other community members. A walking school bus, according to www.walkingschoolbus.org, is simply a group of children walking to school with one or more adults supervising, either as established "bus drivers" who walk the entire route, stopping to pick up children as they go, or as helpers, posted at certain drop-off points along the route. Smith, who has three children, said that he and Sheridan were standing in line with their kids at a Chuck E. Cheese's one day when the idea came up in conversation. "We talked about what a great idea it would be to have a walking school bus, and then Joe sent out an e-mail to the police department, the mayor, the Borough Council and the Department of Recreation," he said. "I was frankly surprised that he got such a positive response and how quickly everyone said, 'Oh, we can do this. We can do that.' Everybody had something to contribute, like one official suggested we include the project in a funding request so when they knew where the route was, they could repaint those crosswalks first. Everybody thought it was a good idea, so we said, all right. Well, let's do it." Sheridan said he would like to start the project sometime in the spring, as a small, experimental pilot program and then build upon it as residents become more aware of the walking school bus. "First, we want to find streets that are nice, where the sidewalks are well laid out," he said. "We wouldn't want to do it every day in the beginning, maybe just on a Friday in the spring, and even then, it would be weather-specific. Kids may not want to walk in the rain. We'd start small, but it's a fantastic idea because this town is small, and nobody's far from the school at almost any point. We just have to get enough volunteers, and I think we could do that." Mitchell said each of the volunteers would have to be fingerprinted and agree to submit to a background check, which costs $30 and is standard practice for anyone involved with school-related functions where they are in direct contact with the children. He also suggested that the Hispanic community in town be notified of the project by fliers in Spanish, since many of them already walk their children to school on a regular basis, rain or shine. Keyport resident Jennifer Henning said she and her husband, Peter Henning, who is currently a member of the borough's school board, originally moved to Keyport because the town was so "walkable" and because they could walk their children to school, but she said that the borough does not do a great job of clearing the walkways in the winter, which sometimes makes walking difficult. Smith said since residents in the town would benefit from lower gasoline costs, as well as less traffic congestion and a healthier lifestyle, the argument could be made that the town should invest in some sidewalk improvement and maintenance in order to help the project succeed. Henning said that the Board of Education would have to approve the idea at its March 7 meeting before fliers could be handed out to notify students and their parents about the plan. The logistics of a walking school bus were also discussed, from mapping prospective routes, to ways to canvas for volunteers and how children would be picked up each morning. Sheridan proposed holding a class for those involved in the project, to go over all of the rules and expectations. "Basically, the heart of this idea is that it's a way to encourage physical activity," said Sheridan. "It's good for the kids. It's good for the parents. It's good for the environment and saving money, so everybody wants this to work, but nobody really knows how it will work. That's up to us." Those interested in volunteering for or signing their kids up to be a part of Keyport's Walking School Bus program should contact Dan Smith at (201) 286-3426 or e-mail keyport-walking-school-bus@googlegroups.com.