Whats Your Role?

BikeTexas Safe Routes to School participation is community-wide.

Get involved today!

Participation includes (but is not limited to):

Children
Parents
Volunteer School Team Leaders
Physical Education Teachers
School Principals and District Administrators
Government and Elected Officials
Public Health Professionals and Agencies
Universities and Colleges
Planners and Engineers
Law Enforcement
Bike Shops and Bike Clubs
School Friends and Neighbors
Community Groups
Cycling, Health and Safety Non-profits

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Parents
Parental participation produces safer neighborhoods and healthier families. When parents help children choose healthy, active lifestyles and provide them with the tools they need to get started, they strategically foster healthy attitudes that children will carry with them throughout their lives and pass on for generations to come.

What's your role?
Parents support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

• purchasing safe and properly fitted bikes and helmets for your children and yourselves.
• walking and riding bikes with your child to school if its feasible.
• walking and bicycling with your family for exercise, pleasure and transportation.
• starting a program at your school or becoming a BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Team Leader.
• assisting your school's designated Team Leader and BikeTexas Education Fund Local Outreach Coordinator (LOC) to organize contests and events that encourage other kids and parents to walk and bike regularly.
• leading "walking or biking school buses" for young children in your neighborhood.
• assisting Texas SuperCyclist Certified Teachers as they teach The Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum to students at school.

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Volunteer School Team Leaders
Team leaders are BikeTexas Education Fund’s heros and work directly with Local Outreach Coordinators (LOCs) to become volunteer liaisons between BikeTexas and schools, while building relationships with:

School Administrators
Parent Teacher Associations
Other Team Leaders
School Advisory & Site Councils
Local Law Enforcement
Local Media
Government and Elected Officials
The Healthcare Community
School Neighbors and Friends

What's your role?
Team Leaders support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

• promoting and directing events such as Texas Bike & Walk to School Day.
• coordinating regularly scheduled Bike and Walk to School days and helping to arrange walking school buses and bike trains.
• introducing other events, contests and encouragement tools to schools.

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Physical Education Teachers
Teaching the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum to your students ensures that they are better equipped to walk and bike safely to and from school and in their communities. The curriculum teaches bicycle, pedestrian and motorist safety education, helps to fulfill the Physical Activity requirements of Senate Bill 19 and meets the 4th and 5th grade Physical Activities and Health requirements of the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS).

What's your role?
Teachers support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

• implementing the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum in classrooms and/or P.E. classes. By teaching this curriculum, teachers arm students with the knowledge and skills they need to walk and bike safely to school and in their neighborhoods. By teaching the physical activities of the curriculum, teachers help students incorporate regular exercise into their daily routine. These exercises help improve student strength, balance, endurance and flexibility - skills needed for cycling and other sports.

"This is one of the best programs I've been involved with. Thank you for letting me be a participant. I enjoyed teaching the curriculum very much. I am seeing the results myself as I observe my students riding their bikes to school. This makes me feel that I am making a difference in their safety and well being. Thank you once again for a great program!" - - Tamara Pickens, Booker Elementary School, Booker ISD

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School Principals and District Administrators
The BikeTexas Safe Routes to School encouragement program helps school principals and district administrators support safe and healthy school communities.

What's your role?
School Principals and District Administrators support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:
signing the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Principal/Superintendent Evaluation Consent Form.
completing the brief BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Environment Survey.
coordinating school staff and faculty to work with BikeTexas Educational Fund Evaluation staff in the implementation of Teacher, Parent and Student Surveys.
coordinating school staff and faculty to work with BikeTexas Educational Fund Education staff in the implementation of the Texas SuperCyclist Teacher Certification Program on campus.
supporting and encouraging teachers as they teach the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum to their students.

"The bicycle training was very beneficial to our teachers because it provided the resources necessary to teach the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) as well as our own curriculum. The flexibility of the program allows for everyone to use it as he/she sees fit." - - Nancy Hogg, Instructional Specialist for Health, Physical Education and Athletics, Katy ISD

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Government and Elected Officials
In addition to the direct impact on school, teachers, parents, and students, few programs more directly benefit neighborhood health and safety.

What's your role?
Government and Elected Officials support Safe Routes to School programs by:
initiating Safe Routes to School Enforcement and Engineering programs in Texas communities.
authoring a resolution of support for the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program.

''To tackle obesity we will need unambiguous political leadership at all levels of government, to make clear that public health has to come before private profit. This means a fundamental shift in the social environment that will support healthful eating and an active lifestyle. While the campaign must be led by government, it will require the active participation of primary care physicians, nutritionists, schools, and parents.'' - David Ludwig, Director of Optimal Weight for Life, Children's Hospital, Boston

"Texans have never been known to stand down in a fight. I believe we can win the battle for our children's health, but we have to start now. Real change will take all of us working together with a commitment to taking action today" - - Susan Combs, Texas Agriculture Commissioner

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Public Health Professionals and Agencies
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Bank, more than one-third of school-age children in Texas are overweight or obese. There are twice as many obese children today than there were 20 years ago and there are three times as many obese teens. The obesity crisis is leading us into an increased incidence of a number of chronic diseases, including: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, asthma, osteoarthritis, and even some forms of cancer. Today's Texas children could be the first generation to have shorter lives than their parents. An overweight child has a 70% chance of becoming an overweight adult. The odds go up to 80% if a parent is overweight. Depression and low self-image are common in overweight youth. These children often face teasing from their peers and are less likely to do well in school.

What's your role?
Pubic Health Professionals and Agencies support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:
participating in the classroom instruction of the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum.
participating in events that encourage walking and cycling safely to school, such as the Texas Bike & Walk to School Day and Bicycle Safety Days.
providing schools with materials and resources that demonstrate how walking and biking to school promotes healthy lifestyle changes and healthier children.

"Childhood obesity is linked to adult obesity which accounts for 5.7% of U.S. direct health care costs and 400,000 deaths annually. Health care costs for each American in 2002 equaled $4,695 annually, including out-of-pocket, private insurance and government program expenses. This is up 16% from 2000 and up 96% since 1990. The economic impact of chronic poor health is devastating for families due to healthcare costs as well as loss of income for patients and family caregivers. Chronic poor health results in a deterioration of quality of family life. At current trends, the overall cost to society and to the economy will be crippling." - - Department of Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"Texans have the power to change this bleak future and schools play a critical role."
- - Susan Combs, Texas Agriculture Commissioner

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Universities and Colleges
In mid-2002, BikeTexas Education Fund acquired funding from the Texas Department of Transportation to update the entire Texas SuperCyclist Program training methodology. The result – the Texas SuperCollege Program – enabled physical education teachers as well as physical education teachers-in-training to receive SuperCyclist Teaching Certification. Student teachers receive elective course credits towards their degree by enrolling in the program at participating colleges or universities.

These institutions recognize the benefits and positive social impact of encouraging and supporting youth cycling education and skills training, and share a commitment with BikeTexas Education Fund and the state of Texas to improve child traffic safety education and child health.

What's your role?
Universities and colleges support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:
continuing to offer SuperCyclist Certification Courses to ensure that future generations of Texas teachers are equipped with the knoweldge and tools to educate children in bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety.

What do you do next?
BikeTexas is working with universities across the state to provide training and certification in this curriculum for elementary classroom, physical education and health teachers. Please let us know if one or more teaching professionals (preferably cyclists) in your department or program who are interested in learning the curriculum. Contact the BikeTexas Education Fund and ask about the Texas SuperCollege Program.

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SuperCollege Participating Universities

Abilene Christian University
Angelo State University
Baylor University
Concordia University
Houston-Tillotson University
Sam Houston State University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Texas A&M University
Texas State University
Texas Tech University
University of Houston
University of Mary-Hardin Baylor
University of North Texas
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Texas Pan AM

“At Texas A&M University the SuperCyclist curriculum was integrated into different sections of my course on health and physical activity. At the conclusion of the semester the Aggies presented a health fair at a local elementary school. The Aggies embellished the lessons with creative ideas. Lessons were presented on the rules of the road and equipment. Road courses were set up for the students to walk through and demonstrate hand signals and proper adherence to road signs.

Visuals of good and bad bicycle safety behaviors were shown and the children gave a thumbs up or down to indicate whether the scenario was safe or not. The children tried on and adjusted the helmets we purchased through Bell and created their own helmets complete with the appropriate stickers. At the conclusion of each lesson there was an assessment activity so that the children could show what they had learned. When asked at the close of the fair what they remembered, several of the children enthusiastically volunteered bicycle safety information.” - - Susan Wagner Dept of Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station

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Planners and Engineers
Planners and Engineers who focus on school travel projects help reduce traffic, as well as automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes near and around schools.

What's your role?
Planners and Engineers support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

* prioritizing projects which make it safer, more convenient and more attractive for children to walk and bike to school.

“... we are doing much to promote increased use of cycling in Texas for all. Bike to work. Bike to school. Safe programs going to school. Even if it's just going down the street to get a gallon of milk or a recreational ride - we can do much more with cycling...” - - U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Lance Armstrong Resolution, (H.Res. 761), As delivered on the floor.

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Law Enforcement
Law enforcement officers keep our streets and neighborhoods safe for everyone.

What's your role?
Law Officers support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:
maintaining a presence at and around the school drop off and pick up zones. This has a very positive effect on child behavior and offers the opportunity for officers to positively interact with community members, schools, students, teachers and families.
participating in events and activities such as International and Texas Bike & Walk to School Days and encouraging regularly scheduled Bike & Walk to School Days.
assisting teachers with implementing the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum field training including student on-bike evaluations, the SuperCyclist Decision Making Course, and the SuperCyclist Skills Course.

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Bike Shops & Bike Clubs
Bike shops and bike clubs are resources for current and future cyclists, providing bikes, accessories, service, and information on bicycles and bicycle maintenance. Shops and clubs often host local rides and races and are often active in community transportation initiatives that improve conditions for walking and cycling within their communities.

What's your role?
Bike Shops and Bike Clubs support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

participating in school events.
sponsoring contests.
promoting the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program in stores and at meetings.
joining the BikeTexas as Bike Shop or Bike Club Members.

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School Friends & Neighbors
Our friends and our neighbors look out for our kids and make our neighborhoods safer, healthier, cleaner and more attractive for us all.

What's your role?
School Friends and Neighbors support the BikeTexas Safe Routes to School Program by:

volunteering as cross-walk guards and/or route monitors.
offering to sit out on front porches or patios, to watch over children as they pass by and to be visible in the neighborhood.
individuals wishing to improve their own health can escort children part or all of the way and thus integrate a healthy walk or bike ride into their daily activity.
volunteering to help with special events to encourage participation.
assisting teachers with on-campus implementation of the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum field trips and the student evaluation Decision Making Course and Skills Course tests.

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