Tim Newsted, retired longtime teacher and coach in the Hastings Schools, is in charge of a new program for students in Northeastern and Central Elementary and the Middle School. Its students can be part of a Walking School Bus.

 

Newsted told the Hastings City Council Monday that as soon as the weather is better, likely after spring break, the kids from Central and Middle schools will be invited meet him at Johnson Field on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and make up a Walking School Bus, walking in a group from there to school.

 

“It will help reduce traffic problems, hopefully a little bit, and help get the kid’s minds active before school starts...It’s a mini-field trip for the kids before school… anyone can join in,” he said. Elementary students will be awarded charms for a bracelet; middle schoolers will get a snack.

“It’s exciting. I think the kids will like it.” 

 

Newsted plans other activities, supporting the National Bike to School Day in May and a bike rodeo at a Very Barry Family Event in June, with plans to restart the program in the fall.

“The whole idea is to get some exercise and have fun walking and biking,” he said.

 

A grant from the Michigan Fitness Foundation, to promote healthy activities for students, was awarded for two Hastings schools. Northeastern; and because they are so close in proximity, the Middle school and Central Elementary are counted as one.

 

The walking bus program is part of Safe Routes to School, a federal program to make it safe, convenient, and fun for children, including those with disabilities, to bicycle, walk or roll to school, and an easy way for children to get regular physical activity.

Its initiatives also help ease traffic jams and air pollution, unite neighborhoods and contribute to students' readiness to learn in school, according to a Safe Routes to School website.

 

Hastings received a grant more than a year ago and began improvements to create corridors for safe travel to the city schools.