Checklist 3 of 3
For students and families: the agreement.
A rule the child helped write is a rule the child keeps. Fill this in together at the kitchen table, out loud, with the child holding the pen for the parts that are theirs. Then sign it, all of you, and put it where the bag lives.
Our walking-to-school agreement
Who walks:
The route, as landmarks (in order, including every crossing):
We leave the house at:
"Here" message / check-in by:
How I say I have arrived:
At every crossing I: stop at the edge · look left, right, left, and over my shoulder · wait until cars have stopped or the road is empty · walk, still looking.
Two things I never do: take a different way without telling an adult first · get into anyone's car, even someone I know, unless we agreed it that morning.
If I am going to be late (any reason): I keep going to school or I go back home. I do not wait somewhere in between. I tell an adult as soon as I can.
If something scares me: I go into the nearest shop, school or house with people and say: "I'm walking to school and I need you to call my parent." The number is in my bag.
My phone / watch, if I have one: in the bag from door to door. Out only when I have stopped, away from the curb.
Things I want to add:
Signed:
Date: We will read this again on:
How to use it
- The child writes the route. If they cannot describe it as landmarks, they do not know it yet; walk it again first.
- Read the crossing line out loud together and then walk to the nearest corner and do it once, for real, before signing.
- "Things I want to add" is theirs. Children add surprisingly sensible rules: "I can walk with Maya if her mum says yes", "I text if I'm going to Grandma's after". Let them.
- If "how I say I have arrived" is an app, write the app's name and the rule on the line, e.g. "Geopapa arrival alert for School, and I text if it doesn't fire". A line the child wrote is a routine the child owns; the arrival alert is then a backstop, not a leash.
- Set the re-read date about a month out. Rules drift, routes drift; a second signing catches both, and it marks that the child has earned the routine.
A note on the old page at this address
This address used to belong to the Lane County Safe Routes to School program, which had a page for students and families here. That program's material is not ours and is not reproduced; the about page explains the history of the domain.