Walking School Bus Rolls

It was a rainy day as the new "Walking School Bus" program got into gear at Fogarty Elementary in South Providence as the school year began.

The program, developed by Family Service of RI's Providence Children's Initiative (PCI) team, is needed because PCI found children within walking distance of school missing class because of parental health, work schedules and other issues. 

With the "Walking School Bus" children walk to school along a defined route with "stops."  The students are supervised by trained adults.

"It is critically important that we be creative in finding ways to eliminate chronic absenteeism," said Dr. Susan Lusi, Providence's school superintendent.  "This simple, safe and healthy program will help to ensure that children arrive to school on time and are less likely to miss important lessons that cannot be captured through makeup work.  We hope this will serve as a model for additional schools in our district."

Learn more about the "Walking School Bus" from this report from WPRI.

To learn more about the Providence Children's Initiative, check out this short video.