Bike to School Day returns to Fairfax County Public Schools tomorrow (Wednesday). The annual event aims to promote physical activity and put a dent into traffic congestion and pollution near schools.

As students bike or walk to school, parents are encouraged to accompany their kids to school and organize bike trains or walking groups.

The event is part of a series of events this month, which is National Bike Month. Bike to Work Day is set for May 17. FCPS provides guidance on the safest routes to and from schools in the county.

Reston schools participating in Bike to School Day include:

• Aldrin Elementary School
• Lake Anne Elementary School
• Sunrise Valley Elementary School
• Terraset Elementary School

For more information, visit the county’s website.

Photo courtesy of Steve Gurney

It is International Walk to School Day on Oct. 8, and all Reston elementary schools are encouraging participation in the annual event.

This is the third straight year Reston schools, plus Langston Hughes Middle School, have engaged in the friendly competition to see who can get the most kids to school on two feet.

Fairfax County Public Schools in general are encouraging students to participate “as an effort to promote physical activity and reduce traffic congestion and pollution near schools.”

The percentage of students walking and bicycling to school declined from 48 percent in1 969 to 13 percent in 2009, says the non-profit Safe Routes to School, which organizes the event. The increased number of Kiss & Ride users has clogged traffic conditions around many schools and has made it more difficult for student walkers and bicyclist to get to school, the group said.

Want to get involved at your school? Visit the Reston page on Walk to School Day’s website to see who is coordinating your neighborhood route.

Photo: Bike to School Day in Reston/file photo

On Wednesday, May 7, all eight of Reston’s elementary schools will participate in National Bike to School Day.

Each school is running its own celebration event, and all eight are competing as a group with the eight elementary schools in Vienna to see who can get the most cyclists riding to school that day.

National Bike to School Day is a spinoff of Walk to School Day, which happens in October, says the National Center for Safe Routes the School, which sponsors both.

The first National Bike to School Day took place on May 9, 2012, in coordination with the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Month. Almost 1,000 local events in 49 states and the District of Columbia joined together to encourage children to safely bicycle or walk to school. Last year, more than 1,700 schools in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.

Want to know what is planned for your neighborhood school? Contact the coordinators below.

Aldrin: [email protected] (Jennifer Johns)
Armstrong: [email protected] (Ingrid Freeman)
Dogwood: [email protected] (Amber Badgley)
Forest Edge:  [email protected] (Melissa Baldwin)
Hunters Woods: [email protected] (Kristin Eddy)
Lake Anne: [email protected] (Melissa Romano)
Sunrise Valley: [email protected] (Steve Gurney)
Terraset: [email protected]; [email protected] (Annette Bobby or Alison Stobie)