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Students Stay A Step Ahead

Tribune photo by Candace C. Mundy

Students and parents at Carrollwood Elementary School celebrate International Walk to School Day on Oct. 3. Mother Nolia Murphy waves the sign.

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By HAROLD VALENTINE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

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CARROLLWOOD It wasn't the crisp autumn morning pupils and their parents from Carrollwood Elementary School may have wished for during International Walk to School Day.

Nonetheless, several dozen of them braved the sticky morning to support the school's first year in participation of the event on Oct. 3.

'Strangely, my daughter doesn't like walking,' said Michael Boustani, whose daughter, Diba, is a first-grader at the school. 'But she made me walk 40 minutes to get here this morning.'

Students were greeted by nearly 200 backpacks provided by Safe Kids Worldwide, sponsored by FedEx. Backpacks came with flickering light reflectors and T-shirts.

Safe Kids worldwide is a global nonprofit group dedicated to preventing childhood injury.

Safe Kids spokeswoman Bevin Maynard said the annual International Walk to School Day takes place the first Wednesday of October.

Grown-ups applauded the event for the exercise involved, and first-grader Julia Mueller said she 'liked the exercise,' too.

Mueller, who lives far from the school, walked from the home of her friend, first-grader Madeline Rawls. 'I like waking up early,' Rawls said.

Gary Tait, an engineer for Hillsborough County who focuses on bicycle and pedestrian safety, said the event has another worthy dynamic: safety.

'I understand the choice to drive students to school,' Tait said, 'but it is causing congestion at most of the schools, and the streets are just not designed to accommodate so much traffic.'

Lisa DiTarando, mother of first-grader Holden and kindergartner Grayson said teaching children the best way to walk to and from school is a practical but overlooked lesson.

'We don't really teach safety practices for walking to school,' DiTarando said.

Carrollwood Elementary School Assistant Principal Beth Hastings estimated 75 students walk to the school on a regular basis.

'They need to know, for safety reasons, the layout of the land and safe pedestrian practices,' she said.

Maynard said teaching children safe pedestrian practices is important because the county is one of the most dangerous for walking and bicycling in the state.

'Hillsborough County is very dangerous, and a lot of parents are afraid to walk their children to school,' Maynard said. 'But because they don't walk them, they drive them, and we have a lot of traffic congestion around schools.'

Reporter Harold Valentine can be reached at (813) 865-1526 or hvalentine@tampatrib.com.

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