Student safety, activity targeted

AlWood communities consider grant program

Sunday, April 8, 2007

By Sherrie Taylor

The Register-Mail

Woodhull - Children's health and safety are two of the primary issues of the Safe Routes to School program. Those issues also are important to residents in AlWood School District.

Community members are interested in the grant funds available through SRTS for communities that would like to address the issue of students arriving at school in high traffic, and an unsafe environment for walking and bicycling. In addition, more children are becoming less physically active and walking or biking to school would encourage activity.

The Safe Routes program allows parents and students to leave the car at home to reduce traffic surrounding the school, and walking and bicycling can contribute toward the development of a lifelong habit of physical activity.

Information about the program will be discussed at the Woodhull Village Board meeting Monday, and parents and residents who have questions, information or suggestions are encouraged to attend.

Cassie Hanson, AlWood special education teacher, and Angie Althaus, Alpha Village Board trustee and member of the Community Development Committee, attended an SRTS workshop in Moline in late February. Hanson will attend the Woodhull board meeting Monday to explain the program and answer questions relating to specifics including grant information.

Communities are being asked to cooperate in the program by engineering changes such as building and repairing sidewalks, improving streets and promoting the training of crossing guards.

Examples of SRTS include Elmhurst, where frequent walker cards are used to encourage students to walk or bicycle to school. They receive prizes based on the frequency of their walking and biking to school, as recorded on their punch cards.

In Phoenix, Arizona, parents and schools create routes, including maps, to show parents and students the walking routes and crossing locations.

AlWood Elementary school is on U.S. 150 and students in the south part of Woodhull are required to cross Illinois 17 to attend middle or high school or ride shuttle buses to Alpha.

"We'd like to see safer routes for the students to follow, whether they're walking or riding their bikes, there needs to be a designated route," Hanson said, adding, "Students would have the opportunity to use routes and be safe."

A caution light may be needed in Woodhull similar to what is in place in Alpha, she said, as well as designating a specific crossing site for Highway 17, she added.

Grant funds for any improvements are on a reimbursement basis, requiring the villages and school district to gather estimates for any work necessary to make this Safe Routes to School program a reality.

Grant funds are renewable until 2009, according to information at the February workshop.

"We have a great opportunity to complete some long awaited projects and support our school district, resulting in great payoffs for our kids," Althaus said.