Page 54 - MMP-N-NJ CCN 21st Century School Nurse Leadership Book

What is Safe Routes to School?
• Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a federal, state and local effort to improve the health
and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging children, including those
with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; make bicycling and walking to school
a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy
and active lifestyle from an early age; and to facilitate the planning, development and
implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic,
fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.
• NJ Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a statewide initiative to enable and encourage
students to safely walk and bicycle to school.

• NJ SRTS Mission: Empower and assist communities with identifying issues, creating
partnerships and implementing projects and programs to encourage walking and
biking to and from school as a safe, daily activity.
• NJ SRTS Vision: Develop a culture and environment where walking and bicycling to
school is safer, more appealing and a part of daily life for students throughout New
Jersey.

How it works
• The NJ Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Resource Center and New Jersey Bicycle
and Pedestrian Resource Center assist public officials, transportation and health
professionals, and the public in creating a safer and more accessible walking and
bicycling environment through primary research, education and dissemination of
information about best practices in policy and design. The Centers are supported
by the New Jersey Department of Transportation through funds provided by the
Federal Highway Administration.

2. Form a powerful guiding coalition.

• Who are my partners?: Establish your team and get buy-in for the project. These are
individuals with shared commitment and power to lead. For this example the individuals
would be school district administrators [superintendent, bus transportation administrator/
manager, principals], other school colleagues such as physical education teachers, school
guidance counselor, PTA, police officers (many communities have a dedicated traffic
officer), local county or state Safe Routes to School coordinator, mayor, local state
legislators, school board members, faith-based organizations, school neighborhood
representatives, school neighborhood businesses. Team leader should be an individual
with senior line management.

3. Create a vision.

• Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant and Time Bound Goals)
goals to develop performance and measurable objectives and outcomes. The who, what,
where, when, why. See Appendix B for SMART goals development template.

• Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, a four step model for carrying out change
(https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/work-
flow-assessment-health-it-toolkit/all-workflow-tools/plan-do-check-act-cycle#h=plan-
do-check-act)

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