LISD to host ‘Walk and Bike to School’ Day

By LPR Staff

Editor/POST-REGISTER

Children in the Lockhart Independent School District are being invited next week to participate in a very special initiative to promote physical fitness and community-building, Lockhart’s firsts “Walk or Bike to School Day.”

The initiative, sponsored by the Parnership for a Walkable America,

was introduced in 1997 as an effort to promote not only the health benefits of walking, but also to encourage parents and children to find safe, walkable routes to and from school, and to encourage children to learn about walking safety.

Lockhart’s five elementary campuses have joined in the international initiative this year, and will be hosting joint “Walk to School” events on te morning of Wednesday, Oct. 8, beginning at 7:15 a.m.

Students from Navarro and Clear Fork Elementary Schools will gather at #1 Lion Country Drive, in the parking lot across from Lion Stadium, for their escorted walk to their schools.

Plum Creek and Carver students should gather in the parking lot of Kreuz’s Market, at 619 N. Colorado St., and Bluebonnet Elementary students will start their walk from the Maple Street Park at 1507 Maple St.

All walks will be supervised by District staff. Parents with questions should contact their campus principal.

In August 2005, federal legislation established a National Safe Routes to School Program that provided $612 million towards Safe Routes to School from 2005 to 2010. The City of Lockhart was the beneficiary of some of those funds, which allowed for sidewalk projects linking Lockhart’s springs area north of downtown, and each of the school campuses. Those projects, which took several years to complete, secured a safe walking route between all LISD campuses, as well as joining them with other points of interest throughout the City of Lockhart.

Parents and families are welcome to walk with their students in the first annual “Walk or Bike to School Day.” All participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, and make sure they are hydrated and physically suited for the walk.