Published: October 06, 2009 12:00 am      

Schenevus will have Walk to School Day

Safe Kids of Otsego County and FedEx have partnered with the Schenevus Central School and the Parents and Teachers Organization in support of International Walk to School Day on Wednesday.

The purpose of the event is to further promote pedestrian safety and healthy lifestyles, organizers said. According to event organizers, despite ongoing efforts to better protect child pedestrians, child pedestrian injury remains the second leading cause of unintentional injury related death among children ages 5 to 14 in the United States.

Schenevus students in grades 4 to 8, their parents, community supporters and Schenevus-Maryland fire volunteers for traffic control will gather at the Schenevus-Maryland Fire Station at 7:45 a.m. and kick off the event by walking to school.

Once at the school student walkers will have a snack before heading to their classrooms. Throughout the day representatives from Safe Kids of Otsego County and FedEx, the international sponsor of the Walk to School Day, will offer pedestrian safety presentations on navigating traffic environments.

Each student will receive rewards from Safe Kids of Otsego County and the Schenevus Central School PTO.

Students representing grades 4 and 5 will exhibit their works of art in the form of a poster contest focused on a pedestrian safety theme.

Maryland Town Supervisor Marjorie French has issued a proclamation declaring Oct. 7 as Schenevus Central School Walk to School Day.

Earlier this year, the town of Maryland and Schenevus Central School were granted funds under the Safe Routes to School Program to promote walking and/or biking to school as alternatives to riding the school bus or being transported by car.

This event complements the educational component of that grant, officials said.

For more information, contact Lynda Bookhard, Schenevus Central School superintendent, at 638-5530 or lbookhard@schenevuscs.org, or Rich McCaffery, Bassett Healthcare Community Educator and Safe Kids of Otsego County, at 547-5256 or richard.mccaffery@bassett.org.