Getting to School
Safe Routes to School
The City of Palo Alto has published a Walk & Roll to School Map to help Escondido families identify walk- and roll-friendly routes for all of our families: English and Spanish.
Parents can use this map to determine how best to walk or bike to school. Features of the map include the suggested routes for walking or biking, the location of crossing guards, travel time estimates, and tips on how to walk and bike safely. For drivers, there are also key safe driving tips for when pedestrian and bicyclists are present.
Last year, Escondido parents, neighbors, and staff worked with a team of City of Palo Alto staff and consultants to develop this map. Questions about the map or school commute routes may be directed to: saferoutes@cityofpaloalto.org or 650-329-2156.
Carpooling
A significant cluster of Escondido families' homes exists in every neighborhood of Palo Alto. SchoolPools are a great way to help us build a stronger community as well as make the streets and air around our school safer for our children.
Signing up on our SchoolPool social networking site will help find families in your neighborhood. Students and parents can work together to find opportunities for sharing commutes, such as:
- Rainy day carpools
- Bike trains
- Walking school buses
- A couple days/week or morning or afternoon only ride shares
- Rides to after-school activities
- Requesting a neighbor's help for an emergency
- After-school play dates
- … anything at all!
How to get started
Through a city-administered VTA grant, Escondido now has our own SchoolPool social networking site funded through 2014. It is a secure network accessible only to Escondido families. To get started:
- Sign up, and the parent volunteers (Amy Butte and Stefan Rosner) will verify your affiliation with the school and approve your registration within 24 hours.
- Once approved, you will be notified so that you may sign in and build your profile. Your profile becomes 100% complete when you have added information about your family and a picture. The cell phone information is requested for reminders about scheduled SchoolPools that can be sent via text message, should you enable this feature.
- Select "Find a Match" to see other families on the map and view their profiles. Click "Add to my SchoolPool network" to send a message about a pool.
- Schedule a SchoolPool among neighbors. The site allows you to synchronize with other calendars and receive text message reminders.
Please contact Amy or Stefan with any questions.
Thank you all for working to build our community and reduce traffic. Happy pooling!