Someone cut a ribbon, a stilt walker rallied the crowd and tiny feet powered up the first walking school bus in Kansas.
The program at Pawnee Elementary School in Overland Park, part of a national effort to encourage exercise and curb obesity, involves groups of students walking to and from school each day escorted by adult volunteer “bus drivers.”
The walking bus is part of Safe Routes to School, a national effort started by the Department of Health and Human Services. In 1969, almost half of all students walked to school, and only 5 percent suffered from childhood obesity. Last year, just 16 percent walked — and childhood obesity was three times higher than 40 years ago.
Read the full story at kansascity.com.