Walking School Bus centers Enforcement and Engagement

It was very interesting to see the walking school bus on the front page today.

Front page today

Back in 2020 the National Safe Routes Partnership dropped the E of Enforcement from their "five Es" and "six Es" framework:

For more than 15 years, Safe Routes to School programs have used the five E’s (Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Evaluation, and Engineering) as their organizing framework. In recent years, we added a sixth E, Equity, to bring the focus towards creating healthy, thriving communities for people of all ages, races, ethnicities, incomes, and abilities. Effective immediately, we are dropping Enforcement as one of the 6 E’s of Safe Routes to School....We recognize that there may be healthy, community-driven relationships with law enforcement that support some programs across the nation; however, we will no longer recommend such partnerships as foundational to the start, maintenance, or growth of a successful Safe Routes to School program.

In a note on social media the local Safe Routes group says:

Safe Routes to School will welcome Salem Police Department as we walk to school with Washington Elementary School and Community Members.

Safe Routes to School is comprised of six E’s: Engagement, Engineering, Education, Equity, Encouragement, and Evaluation. It is my pleasure to grow the Salem-Keizer Safe Routes to School program through engagement within our community. Engagement is, “connecting directly with students, parents, teachers, and community members to hear their needs and to work together on designing programs that will authentically benefit their schools and build connections with local resources.”

Parents and neighborhood organizers deserve great deference as they formulate plans responsive to local conditions.

As we continue to debate modes of policing for our current moment, and try to shift our paradigm of safety so that it is not so autoist and does not sideline those not in cars as marginal or secondary users, it will be interesting to see how our Safe Routes group employs or varies this approach across the city.