District Policies Regarding Safe Routes to Schools

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Los Angeles County School District Policies and Safe Routes to School Background

Case Selection

Research Question:

How do school district-level policies and administrative structures affect the creation, funding, and implementation of Safe Routes to School programs in Los Angeles County elementary schools?

Study Type:

Comparative Case Studies of school districts in Los Angeles County.

Goal of Study:

To identify school district policies with the strongest positive impact on implementing funded Safe Routes to School Programs in Los Angeles County.

District Size

Previous Funding

Collisions

1. District size by enrollment 2. District size by number of schools 3. Number of Safe Routes awards 4. Number of schools receiving awards 5. Percentage of schools receiving awards 6. Number of schools without awards 7. Number of pedestrian and bicycle collisions near schools

Agencies Responsible for Factors Influencing Walking and Biking to School Individual Schools

School Districts

Sidewalks Crossing Guards

Preliminary Findings Interviews with District and City employees provide the bulk of information regarding structural barriers and facilitators to Safe Routes implementation. Interviews are supplemented with reviews of written policy, as well as census data providing socioeconomic context within the selected case districts.

Flexibility vs. Institutional Leadership

Preliminary interviews often had themes of balancing the importance of flexiblity between communities, and encouraging community-led processes, with a lack of leadership from District administration.

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Funding

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Personal Safety Advocacy Group Involvement

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General Lack of Program Awareness in Educational Field

Implementation of programs among educators (such as schools, districts, teachers, and principals) tend to be reactionary rather than proactive. Furthermore, most districts do not have a clear assignment of which departments or individuals deal with non-motorized transportation to and from school.

Icons courtesy of The Noun Project, and designed by Michael Loupos, Chris Cole, Wilson Joseph, Alex Auda Samora, and Jose Ignacio Fonseca.

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Walk to School Days

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Parking Lot Size Design

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x x

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Bus Zones

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School Siting School Start & Dismissal Time

x x

School Choice

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Ownership of Programs

Historically, grants have been written by and awarded to city governments or individual schools, with little coordination either at the regional or district level. The table to the right illustrates the bureaucratic complexity of the policies and infrastructure affecting student transportation to and from school, and the multiple agencies involved.

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Crosswalks

Drop-Off Policy

Metro

State Government

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School Speed Zone

Methodology

Local Government

Contact:

Teresa Whinery UCLA Urban Planning Faculty Advisor: Prof. Brian Taylor Client: LA Metro

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List of factors and policies from Eyler et al., 2008.


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