SALISBURY — Salisbury Community School will be holding a special Walk to School Day on Tuesday, June 6. Kelley Cross Road will be closed to through traffic by order of the town Selectboard so that students can walk the half-mile to school from either Holman Road or West Salisbury Road.
The event is being organized by science teacher Amy Clapp and her fifth grade Green Team, with support from the Vermont Energy Education Program. It will conclude a month-long study of natural resources and human impact on the environment for the school’s K-6 students.
On June 6, when they arrive at Kelley Cross Road by car, students will be given long, narrow plastic tubes called Bernoulli bags, which hold air equivalent to the carbon dioxide saved by walking the rest of the way to school instead of driving. Students will carry these representations of the emissions they’re preventing — about one pound per car and five pounds per bus — on their walk to provide a visual of the abstract idea of carbon savings.
“The hope is that students will see how much CO2 is saved by walking short distances,” says Clapp, “and that this will help them make good choices when making short trips.”
Thanks to a grant from the Vermont Energy Education Program, families will also receive a free tire gauge on June 6, with information about how keeping tires pumped up will increase the efficiency of their car and reduce CO2 emissions.
The fifth grade team has been studying energy use and transportation this school year and working to educate the school about the benefits of walking instead of driving. They presented their plan for a Walk to School Day to the Selectboard earlier this year and were given special approval to close Kelley Cross Road.
“It has always been difficult for our school to have a Walk to School Day because our community is bisected by Route 7, making it dangerous for many students to cross the road,” says Clapp. “This is a creative, unique solution to that problem.”