Nowhere to walk

Parents and staff wanted Clearview Avenue Elementary School to participate in International Walk to School Day this week. Just one problem. Few kids really walk to Clearview Avenue Elementary School, and none without their parents.

It's just not safe.

The school is bordered on all sides by busy thoroughfares. Unlike most Pinellas schools, this one has no safe walking paths leading to it.

Demonstrating pedestrian safety, the purpose of Walk to School Day, struck PTA president Jean Giangrosso as absurd. "We had decided not to participate," said Giangrosso, whose husband walks their 6-year-old son Jonas to campus daily from their home two blocks away. "But we didn't want to be the odd school out."

So they improvised. Rather than encourage everyone to walk to school, the school gave kids a quick lesson in how to look both ways before crossing the one less busy street outside school. Teachers pointed out how dangerous most of the intersections around the school are, and told the students  how unsafe it might be for them to walk to school, especially alone.

For a more complete story, see Sunday's St. Petersburg Times.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter