Page 52 - MMP-N-NJ CCN 21st Century School Nurse Leadership Book

IDEA #2: CHANGE AGENTS
IMPLEMENT SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAM

Idea:

Change agent. Program for all districts no matter location (urban or suburban) or size.
Implement a “Safe Routes to School” Program. Engages multiple community partners and
stakeholders that benefits the whole community, whole school and whole child. Contributes
to community/public health, environmental health, student behavioral and mental health.
May also improve attendance.

The Story:

School nurse Taylor worked in a suburban school district where there was no public
school bus transportation unless you lived greater than one mile from the school building.
School drop off and pick up times at school were alarming. The local high school was also
located on the same street and high school students were often speeding down the street at
dismissal time. There were no sidewalks in the neighborhood. A large apartment complex
nearby had a path to the school that was riddled with broken bottles, overgrown bracken,
and was just plain “scary” in the words of several young students.
One afternoon, at dismissal time, Taylor was called to attend to a student who was found
unresponsive lying in the road less than one block from the school. Fortunately, the student
recovered from the injuries, but Taylor was disturbed and decided to do something to change
the environment around the school. At a recent professional development workshop, she
had picked up a brochure on a federal transportation initiative “Safe Routes to School.” It
was time to be the change.

Objectives:

• Implement the Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program in one elementary school as pilot project.
• Community assessment to understand why children are not walking or biking to school. This defines the
problem to allow for prioritizing and targeting initial interventions through the SR2S program.
• Increase the number of students who walk and/or ride bikes to school.
• Parents and students learn and understand how to walk and bike to school safely.
• Improve safety issues (physical, environmental, traffic) around the school in collaboration with local
municipal, community partners, and police assistance.
• Encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors.
• SR2S Objectives and Outcomes. Link for more objectives and outcomes: http://guide.saferoutesinfo.org/
evaluation/step2_write_objectives.cfm

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