But it doesn’t work for families, according to many city residents. They packed a meeting Wednesday night to say that the reality of walking to school is cold, inconvenient and risky — especially for very young students who in some cases cross busy roads alone.
Even in a city of only 1.43 square miles, the walk to school contributes to the fact that 7 to 10 percent of students are late daily and 4 to 6 percent are absent. That’s according to Parents and Youth for Change-Winooski, which organized the meeting to present research and survey results, and to publicly ask school and community leaders to commit to studying solutions over the next six months.
According to the group, parents who have cars often drive their children to school. But in some parts of Winooski, 30 percent of households don’t have a car. Parents who might like to walk children to school can’t necessarily get to work on time if they add 20 to 40 minutes of walking time. Then there’s Vermont’s bitterly cold winter weather — so frigid that some days the elementary school cancels recess — but kids still have to trudge to school.
“It is really hard to walk in the cold,” said 17-year-old Winooski High School junior Bishnu Khatiwada to the crowd at the O’Brien Community Center. Her father owns a car but must drive it to work at 5 a.m. every morning to support the family, she said.
That means she walks the 10 or 15 minutes to school in all kinds of weather, including subzero days when the wind is howling. If it’s hard for her at age 17, she said, think how hard it must be for the little kids. Khatiwada’s family came to Vermont from Nepal in 2012 and is among many immigrant and refugee families who live in the city. Khatiwada and other speakers called for safe and reliable transportation.
School superintendent Sean McMannon agreed to study the issue, as did city manager Katherine Decarreau. But both said the solutions might not come easily and costs are a big factor. If the solution was simple, it would be in place already, Decarreau said. The solution is likely to be complicated and expensive but that doesn’t mean the city can’t make progress, she added. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves and get creative,” she said.
Most Vermont school systems bus children to school, although there are exceptions — including Burlington’s — where many neighborhoods are close to schools.
Winooski does offer some bus transportation for its roughly 800 students. The district pays about $160,000 annually for transportation for field trips, athletics, preschool and regional high school tech programs. There’s also transportation for students with disabilities. And as in Burlington, some students ride the regional public bus system, the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA), to school.
Small steps toward progress might come quickly as a result of the meeting. Nichol Wolfe, a single mother of boys ages 6 and 10, talked about the difficulty of getting two children to school and getting to work with no car every day. Little things, like having to ride the bus into Burlington to buy a CCTA bus pass because they aren’t sold in Winooski, just add to the logistical challenge, said the teaching assistant.
CCTA general manager Karen Walton said at the meeting that she was unaware until Wednesday night that bus passes weren’t available in Winooski. “I can solve that problem tomorrow with a phone call,” she said to loud applause. But Walton said she could not make larger decisions involving CCTA funds and routes without authority from the system’s board.
After the meeting, Wolfe said that not everyone is sympathetic to the call for bus transportation: “Some people think we’re exaggerating because it’s a short walk.”
The city is drawing restaurants and nightlife and has a growing appeal as a place to live, with new condos and apartments overlooking the Winooski River. But Wolfe says she’s talked to parents who don’t want to move to Winooski because of the walk-to-school policy. “They do not want to add that to their to-do list,” she said.
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They are exaggerating, ask the people complaining if they are willing to pay for it. Ask them if they are willing to pay anything at all, or how much are they willing to pay to avoid a cold 15 minute walk in the wintertime?
Are you kidding me? These people need to get real, take some responsibility for themselves, and stop asking for the easy way out unless they are willing to pay for it. Otherwise, stop wasting everyone’s time.
you sound ignorant. you don’t know the struggle of walking to cold in the coldest days that’s the reason you’re saying this. We’re not wasting our time we are there for to get a school bus and find a solution so nobody have to walk to school and their parents doesn’t have to sacrifice their jobs to drove their children to school. We are not asking for money we’re asking for a help so we can find the way to have a school bus. we’re real and we are standing for the thing that we need in our community. thank you!
I lived in Winooski and we walked to school and didn’t hurt any of us. Seems to me are these new people want everthing for nothing. Maybe they should have stayed in their own country. Winooski spends plenty of money for these people on all the extras they have to give them!
Oh, but I am fully informed on this subject, you see I happen to be a former ccta bus driver myself, and I know for a fact that anyone going to school can pay 60 cents to ride the city bus and be dropped off right in front of the school. This is no different than the kids in Burlington who also ride the city bus to school and pay to do so.
If Burlington does not have a dedicated school bus system, what makes you think Winooski deserves or can afford it?
More importantly, what is wrong with the city bus?
Before you say I don’t know what it is like to walk to school, I grew up in Randolph, VT and walked to school, almost a mile each way, no matter how cold or how much snow there was. I’m sorry but that is life in Vermont. Please learn to deal with it.
woah this is not only for new people who came from different country. Nichole wolf who is raised and born here but still but problem with the transportation. This issues is in general I don’t know why are you saying this in these in here but you’re highly welcome to discus the issues whenever you want with us . I don’t why it doesn’t hurt you but it hurt us. so we stand up for ourselves.I think you shouldn’t tell us what should we do and you don’t any right to tell us should stay in our own country this is our decision and we are here for the purpose. Pamela Senesac thank you for your opinion!
It’s too bad that this turns into a minority / immigrant problem. But obviously, they’re poorer kids with less access to family cars. Of course, if they’re from struggling families $1.20 a day for a public bus is a lot of $. Perhaps Winooski shoudl subsidize public transportation for its poorest kids and leave the taxpayers off hte hook for an expensive (and unnecessary) bus system. It’s interesting… 25 years ago, adding buses to a city of 1.3 square miles would not even be brought up, let alone discussed. It’s a bad idea… there are better ways of getting kids to school in inclement weather. Pus, I walked to school in New England winters, a mile inn each direction, regardless of weather… and look… I’m still alive & well. Parents should not drive their kids to school — it’s maybe 4 days a year where the frigid weather is too dangerous to walk. It’s dangerous to pedestrians at school, and bad for health and the environment. Everyone should walk to school.
Why do so many people these days feel entitled to everything? My mother walked quite a ways to school and back in Manchester, NH and lets just say they were not suburbs that she was walking through. She is just fine and I feel with technology these days it is much safer. How about starting a walking program where students meet up at one location and walk together? Swanton does it every Wednesday. Adults volunteer and the students can walk or ride their bikes to school.
Okay so I’m from burlington. Honestly I agree with the people that think Winooski should have buses like burlington. Especially for like the colder months. Or if the kids don’t have a way to school than they should to so at they can help out the family’s