Safe Walk to School
Safe Walk to School monitors school sites before and after school. Adults perform crossing guard duties and patrol neighborhoods on foot looking for safety problems.
Safety Tips for Getting Your Child to and from School Safely
- Know the routes your children are taking to and from school.
- Walk the routes with your children every now and then, no matter how old they are, to identify anything that causes you concern, and report possible dangerous situations (non-emergency: 777-3333).
- Make sure your children leave on time for school and inform you if they will be late coming home. Look out for them.
- Talk with your neighbors and know the parents of other children and encourage your children to walk together.
- If your school has crossing guards or parent patrols, introduce your child to them.
Get involved! Volunteer for Safe Walk to School
We can help set up volunteer safety patrols for schools that need them, providing supplies training. For information on how to volunteer or start a parent patrol, call (510) 615-5576.
Review These Tips with Your Children—Keep Them Safe!
- Leave home on time so that you get to school on time.
- Walk to school in groups of two or more.
- Let someone know when you leave and when you get back home.
- Always follow the safest route to school. Use main streets; avoid dimly lit areas, alleys, backyards, shortcuts and abandoned buildings.
- Stay alert. Be aware of what’s going on around you at all times. Change directions or cross the street if you think you are being followed.
- Never talk to strangers or accept rides from them. If a stranger tries to grab you, fight and yell help! Run away from the stranger to where there are people.
- Obey the traffic lights. Cross the street when the sign says walk or when there is a green light. Look both ways and never run across the street. Always cross at the corner.
- Be prepared and have a safe walk to school!
How We Select the Neighborhoods We Serve
Safe Walk to School works with its partners to determine which neighborhoods and schools can be served by the program. Selection is based on the severity of safety issues near elementary and middle schools and on Development Block Grant funding appropriations. Incidents of crime and dangerous traffic patterns are considered when assigning monitors to school neighborhoods.
Partners
Safe Walk to School is a program of the City of Oakland, Department of Human Services. We work closely with the Oakland Police Department, the Community and Economic Development Agency, the Public Works Agency, the Oakland Pedestrian Safety Project, the Office of Parks and Recreation, the Oakland Unified School District, the OUSD HEROES Volunteer Program, Caltrans, and AC Transit.
For more information or to volunteer, please contact:
SAFE WALK TO SCHOOL
Department of Human Services
150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite #4340
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: 510-615-5576
Fax: 510-238-4971
