Students will be walking to school - or at school in some cases - Wednesday as part of the town's celebration of National Walk To School Day.
Due to safety and logistical concerns, each school will be handling the event differently, but all students will be getting their feet moving in some fashion.
Elementary school students will be encouraged to walk to school with their parents, but each school will also be having a walk-at-school event where students will take a stroll around school grounds.
Health and Physical Education Director Ann Keegan said Friday each school is also putting its own touches on the event.
For instance, a parent at the Callahan School will be leading students in some fitness exercises after a walk around the school grounds.
Middle school students will walk around the fields and conservation land adjacent the facility and will also have water and breakfast bars available in the cafeteria.
At the high school, Principal George Usevich will be leading the way as he walks to school with some students from his neighborhood. He is also encouraging seniors to leave their cars at home, offering a deal where every senior with a parking pass who walks to school will have his or her name entered in a drawing. Usevich will take the winner and a friend out to dinner.
"I'm not sure if that's an incentive or not, but we'll see," said Usevich.
Keegan said she would like to see walk-to-school days at least twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, but as of now there are no plans for a second edition.
"This is a first for us, so we're going to have to see how it goes and I'm asking everybody to get back to me with some feedback to see how it worked and whether things need to be changed," said Keegan. "I guess ideally, this is something I would hope will eventually run on its own."
The event is part of the system's federally mandated wellness policy that was approved in 2006 and came after more than a year of work from a subcommittee consisting of health and physical education administrators, school nurses, food service personnel and local health officials.
"We're not going to solve the obesity problem in one day, but we hope to raise awareness and people to rethink how we get places," said Keegan. "Hopefully some students will start walking to school even if it's only one or two days a week."
Daily News staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or at bfalla@cnc.com
