Safe Neighborhood committees are cropping up across the Ross Valley. Led by Supervisor Katie Rice's office, these committees are bringing together neighborhood groups, Safe Routes volunteers and school officials, law enforcement and county public works staff to address speeding and other unsafe driving behavior.

Committees have formed in Sleepy Hollow in San Anselmo (Brookside and Hidden Valley Schools), Oak Manor Drive in Fairfax (Manor School) and McAllister Street in Kentfield (Bacich and Kent Schools). In Sleepy Hollow the Safe Corridor committee is looking into vinyl banners with fun and suggestive safety messages.  There have been several vehicle collisions at the curve of Oak Manor and the group is exploring similar safety campaigns to those of Sleepy Hollow.

McAllister street residents have requested no stopping and no parking signage during school hours, and they want to explore making McAllister one way.   Safe Routes to Schools applauds Supervisor Rice for initiating these safety efforts in her district.

Overflowing bike racks at MVMS  photo by Peter Oppenheimer

Almost half of the middle school students at Kent and Hall Middle Schools, and over half of Mill Valley Middle School students, walk or bike to school according to the latest Safe Routes to Schools surveys.

All three of these schools have been active in the Safe Routes to Schools program for more than a decade. They are blessed with safe pathways leading to their schools and new infrastructure has helped connect those pathways to the schools. The students all went through the Safe Routes to Schools program in their elementary schools and it shows that learning healthy habits at an early age builds as they grow older.

The School-Based Health Alliance is lifting up National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month in February, and all across the country people are celebrating school-based health centers (SBHCs) and the impact they have on their communities.

Here's how you can learn about and leverage National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month in your community: in celebration of National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month, take advantage of free access to explore the Blueprint tool, which allows users to explore a framework of information and resources to help you design and operate an SBHC that meets the needs of your students and community, for the entire month of February, including the ability to download select resources under the Planning tab. Click here to start exploring.

Learn more about the School-Based Health Alliance and their Hallways to Health program. This initiative, part of Kaiser's Thriving Schools movement, aims to build the skills and practices required for school-based health centers (SBHCs) to facilitate improvements in health care and behavior among students, their families, and school staff. The target health issues include obesity prevention and treatment, social and emotional health, and school employee wellness.