Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Every Friday afternoon, as the big yellow school buses roll out the driveway of Oakland Terrace Elementary School in Kensington, a smaller load of children gather to walk through the neighborhoods behind the school.
It is the Walking School Bus, a weekly activity of students from the Kensington Forest Glen Children's Center in Silver Spring, just more than two miles away from Oakland Terrace.
Malek calls himself the bus driver but his main role is to organize and supervise the weekly walk. He lets the children take the lead until it is time to cross a street. Then the so-called bus stops and waits until he is in the crosswalk and signals that it is safe to cross.
Fourteen students — comprised of three boys and 11 girls either in kindergarten, first, second or third grade — boarded the bus May 28 for the long, slow amble through tree-lined streets, past barking dogs and into a world they probably would not know about except for the walk.
"The walking school bus is so much fun. You get to walk two and one half miles ... one mile ... one half mile. You get to talk to your friends and have fun," said Celia Ford, 7, a first-grader.
Celia may have been confused about the distance she traveled because of her age or because Malek changes the route, allowing the students to travel different streets and learn new things.
"Some weeks I give them tasks like to read street signs or follow Google maps so they can orient themselves," Malek said.
In the year that the bus has been operating, students have learned their addresses and phone numbers, what to do if they get lost and the basics of walking in traffic, Malek said.
"Last week, I gave them [raw] eggs to see how many would make it back to school. Only one survived," Malek said.
When the group gathered outside Oakland Terrace, Malek checked the roll and allowed time for the students to eat a snack and use the bathroom. He then appointed a leader and a closer, students who carry neon pink signs announcing the Walking School Bus and setting boundaries for the walkers.
Georgia Broitman, 9, a third-grader, was leader, and Jacob Lee, 8, a second-grader, closed the group on the walk last month.
"You just have to stay in front. It's not hard," Georgia said about her responsibility.
Though he had to work to keep the dawdlers from falling behind — sometimes even using his flag pole to prod them along — Jacob said he enjoyed the walk.
"You get exercise and its fun because there's all these people, and [once] I found a shortcut," Jacob said.
Malek was assisted by another Children's Center worker, Arturo Kopatich, 17, and three parent volunteers, all "riding" the Walking School Bus for the first time.
As the group got into the walk, they were spread out for more than a block. There were stops to tie shoes laces, one to get a pebble out of a shoe and one to look at a moth on the sidewalk.
Malek took charge and had the students form two lines as the bus approached Georgia Avenue, six lanes of commuter traffic that the group had to cross. He and Kopatich unfurled two bright, school bus yellow banners and each child held onto a string inside the banner, creating what looked like a true walking school bus.
When the pedestrian light signaled it was time to walk, the group stepped into the crosswalk and safely made the crossing. The children seemed to sense that they had done something special. They all threw themselves onto the grass on the other side of the street and breathed hard.
Then they were on the home stretch, finishing the 2.2 mile walk in 90 minutes.
"Three weeks ago, we said we were going to do it in one hour. We made it with one and one half minutes to go but at the end we were almost running," Malek said.
When the bus pulled into the Children's Center, most of the riders stayed outside to play with their friends.
"It‘s amazing the kids can walk two miles and still have the energy to play," said Michelle Weakly, who "rode" the bus with her son, Auguste, 7, a first-grader.
Copyright © Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net