CCMS

Join the CCMS Walk + Roll to School Days and help your child’s class walk their way to victory!

Next Walk to School Day: October 9

Traffic at CCMS can be challenging, so we encourage families to walk or bike to school when possible. A short walk to school will benefit you, your children, your school and your community.

To help, CCMS hosts a monthly Walk to School Day each First Wednesday where we track how many kids are walking, biking or using transit to school.

Middle school is a great time for kids to learn to navigate their commutes to school on their own. With proper guidance from their parents, walking or biking to school allows kids to develop time management skills and responsibility, learn traffic safety awareness and explore their community. These are life skills that will serve them well into high school, college and beyond. Plus they will be doing their part to reduce traffic and pollution around the school sites.

Have to drive? No problem. Please park 3 blocks away and ease the traffic at CCMS. There is ample parking in the surrounding neighborhoods off Braddock and Overland. There is no need to drive to the front of the school. By parking a few blocks away, your kids will learn responsibility and time management and you’ll be able to exit the school zone faster and easier.

Volunteers Needed! If you are available to assist with walk to school days (guiding kids, tracking participants, promoting), we need you! Please contact Jim Shanman  for more info.

Traffic at CCMS can be challenging, so we encourage families to walk or bike to school more when they can. The quick 10-minute walk to school will benefit you, your children, your school and your community.

We encourage parents to take the 3 Block Challenge by parking and walking 3 blocks to school at least once a week. Use the map here to find convenient parking and recommended routes. Parking just a few blocks away goes a long way towards reducing traffic and pollution around Farragut while adding some extra activity to your child’s day. There is plenty of street parking (highlighted in purple) on streets like Barman, Lindblade and Coombs. Plus there is convenient off street parking at Lindberg Park (near the Stone House) or Vets Park (please be mindful of all parking restrictions).

Attention 5th Grade Parents: Are your kids mobility savvy?

A parents guide to safely prepare your child for walking and biking to middle school

I once observed a parent dropping their high school student off in front of their high school. Curious, I asked “Why? It appears they are able to walk several blocks on their own”. The mom replied she wished he would, but they simply don’t. That’s when I asked, what will she do when he goes to college?

“I never thought of that” was her reply. 

I am here to help you “think of that”. As a former CCUSD parent (our daughter is now a mobility queen in college in NY) I can tell you it takes time to develop the skills your kids need to safely get around on their own, and 5th grade is a great time to start.

There is a good chance your 5th grader has asked to walk to school by themselves or with friends. It’s pretty common that as kids get older, they want to explore their independence more. It’s also important kids learn about traffic safety, wayfinding, time management and transit options. But it can be challenging to find ways to effectively address those issues.

Fortunately, we have a solution.

When kids learn to walk or bike to school safely on their own, they experience so much in the process:

• The added activity before school will help them perform better academically by waking up their bodies and brains and socializing along the way.
• They learn about traffic safety 
• They develop a sense of independence and community awareness
• They learn time management and problem solving skills
• They help address the traffic and pollution issues that are endemic to our school zones
• Bonus for parents: your mornings will free up and school zone stress will disappear.

These are life lessons that will serve them well as high schoolers, college students and yes, even as drivers. But it takes time to learn them and form new habits. And it takes just as long for parents to develop the appropriate confidence in their kids to feel comfortable allowing them to get to school without parental supervision everyday.

We suggest having this conversation now and practicing a safe route on the weekends when traffic is light and you have the time to commit to it.

Then, spend the rest of this school year working with them to get to school safely by means other than you driving them all the way. Start by taking advantage of the City’s new Park and Walk Zones by parking 3 blocks away when you are able and walking the rest. Be sure to let THEM make decisions about where and how to cross a street safely – this is essential for developing confidence in both of you. 

Using transit may be another option. With the free student GoPass program and bus lines that serve our schools, 5th grade is a good time to discuss and explore this as another option.

As they – and you – get more comfortable, begin asking “what if” questions. What if there is an emergency? What if you witness something or someone that makes you feel uncomfortable? Young teens are sponges and they learn quickly (whether they show it or not).

Eventually your three blocks will stretch to five. Soon, you will be walking them halfway or to the bus stop and observing them getting the rest of the way on their own. Eventually you’ll stop tagging along to school with them and they will be walking and rolling with confidence!

Our elementary school’s Walk to School Days are designed to introduce this concept to your kids and demonstrate other ways to get to school. By the time your kids reach middle school, walking and biking will hopefully become a viable option. With few exceptions, there is little reason to fight through traffic to drop your kids off in front of the school. CCMS and CCHS experience extraordinary congestion and it’s up to all of us to help create a safer school zone. Less cars is the best way to accomplish this.  

To help in the process, mark your calendar for our next Family Safe Cycling Workshop May 18 and CCMS Bike Day, August 17 where we work with incoming 6th graders on best practices for riding to school safely. Information and registration can be found here.

Your kids are ready for this. Are you?

For general pedestrian and bike safety tips, visit our Safety First web page.