Get to School! You Can Make it!

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Safe Routes to School program will partner with the “Get 2 School. You Can Make It!” attendance campaign and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health on Saturday, Feb. 27 to canvass neighborhoods and encourage residents to clear snow from their walkways, making walking safer.

Safe Routes to School, which includes the City of Cleveland, Ohio Department of Transportation and other partners, seeks to help students in kindergarten through eighth grade safely walk or ride their bicycles to school. Safe routes can improve community safety, health and wellness, academic performance and the environment. 

Volunteers from CMSD, Neighborhood Progress Inc., Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood and the Franklin Block Club will meet at 9 a.m. Saturday to walk the Central and Detroit-Shoreway neighborhoods. The volunteers will gather at Alfred E. Benesch School, 6393 Quincy Ave., and Joseph M. Gallagher School, 6601 Franklin Blvd.

Nearly two-thirds of CMSD students live within one mile of their schools. Many students walk and ride their bikes to school, so clean and safe routes have a substantial impact on attendance. 

The attendance campaign is working to reduce the number of students who miss 10 or more days of school in a year. Students who miss 10 or more days score an average of 15 points lower on state math exams and 12 points lower on state reading exams. They are 34 percent less likely to graduate. 

More information about CMSD’s Safe Routes to School program can be found at www.clevelandmetroschools.org/Page/8921