45 minutes. 1.92 miles. 55 degrees.

42 minutes. 1.76 miles. 14 degrees.

• Walking in a group made it fun and a community feel. This cannot be guaranteed for all students on their walks.
• We are expecting kids to follow all street traffic signals and for all drivers to pay attention to crosswalks and not their smartphones. Again, cannot be guaranteed and increasing a risk we don’t need.
• The crosswalk at 6th & Mass is extremely short to get across. It’s then a 2:00 minute cycle before walk is available again.
• The bridge was as risky as you would assume. Increases winds from lack of building to block. Understandably snow packed sidewalks. Narrow path. Unsupervised children over this bridge is asking for concerns.
• We all were bundled up with layers. I know from experience kids do not plan ahead for weather. Kids will be unprotected from harsh winter weather on such a walk.
• We celebrated the trek with donuts and coffee and conversations. We are asking our kids to immediately jump into phonics, PE, long division, etc. IF they dressed in layers do they get to peel layers off or stay bundled up all day?
• A 2+ mile walk throughout most of Lawrence is a tough trek for a student under 13. Lots of streets to cross.

40 minutes. 1.4 miles. 38 degrees.

Crossing 6th street seemed too busy for littles. Some of the brick sidewalks hadn’t been cleared off  and were icy, bet they were even worse a couple days ago, some parts were muddy. Lots of turns for a little kid to keep track of. Takes a long time to walk.  

I would never let my elementary aged child walk that far. They will need to change their mileage requirements for busing if any of these proposed closings take place.