STP Training Evaluation - Final Summary (MGiller)

Green Action Centre’s Active & Safe Routes To School

STP FACILITATOR TRAINING EVALUATION

Final Summary Report

Prepared by Masha Giller

3/28/2013

STP Facilitator Training Evaluation Report 2

STP TRAINING EVALUATION

Contents

Overview and Summary of Lessons Learned…………………………………………………………………………………………….3

Pinawa Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Brandon Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9

The Pas/Flin Flon Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11

Headingley Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15

RM Brokenhead (Tyndall) Overview…………………………………………………………………………………………………………18

Town of Morden Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21

Appendix A: Environment Canada Reporting Narrative…………………………………………………………………………...23


STP Training Evaluation – Overview and Summary of Lessons Learned

In 2011, Green Action Centre’s Active and Safe Routes to School program embarked on a new pilot

training project to build capacity around School Travel Planning (STP) for communities around Manitoba.

This STP Facilitator Training program funded primarily through an Eco-Action grant from Environment

Canada had a number of key goals and deliverables, namely:

1. To develop educational materials and prepare resources for a School Travel Planning

facilitator workshop for Manitoba

2. To deliver STP training to 6 participants through 2 pilot workshops

3. To deliver STP training to 18 participants at 4 workshops

4. To establish and coordinate a support network of School Travel Planners in Manitoba

5. To catalyze implementation of School Travel Planning at 12 schools in 3 municipalities

Although ASRTS had a fair bit of experience and successes with its STP pilot project in 12 schools around

Manitoba, this new training project represented a foray into uncharted territory, since there were

numerous unknowns at the onset. Developing educational materials and resources, as well as planning

training delivery (via both webinar and in-person workshop) was a fairly straight-forward piece, relative

to the rest of the project, dependent as that was on finding communities in which there was a basic

foundation and receptivity towards STP.

Prior to initiating this training project, ASRTS had initiated contact with certain communities, introducing

the School Travel Planning concept to key stakeholders, and through identifying some of these we chose

Pinawa as the pilot site for our first training in January 2012. Sandra Jones, the National STP Training co-

ordinator was keen to see how Manitoba was rolling out this new initiative, and joined us for our first

workshop in STP Facilitator Training in Pinawa. Also present was Chris Matthewson, Issues Specialist -

Vulnerable Road Users, with MPI, who we invited to subsequent trainings and who attended all of these

with the exception of the workshop Jackie Avent single-handedly delivered in The Pas, later in March

2012.

In between our trainings in Pinawa and The Pas, we set up a training day in Brandon on the eve of the

2012 Manitoba Planners’ Conference, anticipating possible interest from conference attendees.

Unfortunately, not only did this not occur but confirmed attendees did not arrive as anticipated, and

though everyone present in the room that day understood the value of STP and how it related to

schools and the larger community, the Brandon training is the one with the least results – at least for the

time being.


Our workshop in The Pas saw a modest attendance from key community stakeholders, again with a

number of confirmed attendees, who did not end up making it to the training. Prior to this workshop, I

had spent a great deal of time cultivating the key stakeholders that another member of that community

had identified as being good candidates for our training. In phone calls and emails, I had a sense this

community had a huge issue not only with traffic around the school, but ongoing safety concerns as

drivers (including parents) typically violated traffic laws, endangering students and others nearby.

Contacts mentioned that even RCMP officers would take liberties, and so set the tone for any other

driver to do the same. Fears for student safety were borne out by an incident that occurred between

our training in March 2012 and evaluation interview in January 2013, where a student had been injured

by a careless driver.

After this third training was completed, we took some time to consider how we were going to approach

the remaining trainings, and which communities would be the most suited for this. This piece is critical,

because without a basic foundation, it’s challenging to present a process that needs the support,

involvement and buy-in from a broad spectrum of key community stakeholders in order to happen. With

this in mind, we identified a number of communities that had either already been doing work around

AT, or that had expressed interest in STP when ASRTS presented a Pecha Kucha at the AT Conference in

Portage la Prairie in spring of 2012.

The process of initiating these conversations to assess interest from potential training communities

began in early summer of 2012. Despite these communities’ receptivity on the whole, cultivating the

contacts and getting confirmation of commitment to training took most of the summer and into middle

of fall, even with much flexibility on our part in terms of training dates. After training dates were set,

they needed to be re-scheduled due to the various constraints communities had on their part.

Eventually, three more trainings took place in the late fall and early winter of 2012 in the communities

of Headingley, the RM of Brokenhead (Tyndall), and the Town of Morden.

This set of trainings saw a shift in the agenda, evolving into more of the *working* workshop we

envisioned from the earlier planning stages of this project. Anders Swanson, who has been working on

contract with ASRTS for our app project, played a key role in making this transition, and was

instrumental in facilitating a very focused discussion in terms of identifying issues generated through our

walkabout, to following through on possible solutions. As a result, participants left feeling they

accomplished a great deal through our training, and moved towards small steps in the STP process with

some thought towards next steps.

Nevertheless, even with many key stakeholders in the room, identifying issues and envisioning solutions,

the evaluation interviews I conducted in the first few months of 2013 indicated various challenges these

communities faced in terms of actual implementation, chief amongst these being the absence of an STP

Facilitator to take on this process, a point raised by several community members in my interviews.


Additional challenges include a lack of political will in the community – with municipalities reticent in

providing financial support to ensure children’s mobility is both active and safe.

Other hurdles include timing issues for communities and schools – and with STP being such an involved

process, if a school is in the midst of any other issues, initiating STP becomes less likely, however much

of an interest was previously indicated. Further, a school community may engage in small steps to

establish some baseline data collection (as in the case of Headingley), however this is still in the early

stages with too little time having elapsed between our initial training and the evaluation to see

substantive progress. In the case of The Pas, Kelsey Community School has taken on a number of actions

to encourage students towards active travel (iWALK Club) and improve safety (School Patrol program),

without additional support from key stakeholders in their community (i.e. RHA, municipality), nor an STP

Facilitator to guide the process.

Despite these obstacles to implementation, with the exception of Brandon it appears that every

community we trained has taken some steps towards improving safety and encouraging active travel for

students on their journeys to and from school. In evaluation interviews, all respondents stated they

thought our trainings thorough, relevant and helpful. Even if some of this was a review in their case,

there was a general consensus that there were others for whom it was new and important information.

A key recurring piece of our training day for most respondents was the walkabout, which was cited as a

crucial element in the day, and one where everyone present had a first-hand experience of what the

issues facing children actually were. Another common theme was that communities feel this is

important to deal with, they want to be able to start but feel a little overwhelmed in terms of getting

the process off the ground. Questions around who’s responsible to take the lead create delays, and as

time moves on other issues and priorities take precedence. The idea of creating initial excitement

around STP through the training day, only to see momentum dissipate amidst various roadblocks is one

that was expressed by a number of respondents. A key take-away message here appears to be that

each community faces its own unique challenges, particularly in terms of the local political climate,

along with what concerns shape its current and future actions.

One promising outcome our trainings delivered is the definite planting of seeds for initiating School

Travel Planning in over a half-dozen communities in Manitoba, including Pinawa, Brandon, The Pas, Flin

Flon (Superintendent of Flin Flon School Division attended our training in The Pas), Headingley, RM

Brokenhead (Tyndall), and Morden. The commitment to undertake School Travel Planning requires buy-

in from key community stakeholders and effort in terms of the work involved, as well as time to get the

project underway. To say that we catalyzed School Travel Planning in these communities is potentially

accurate, as we’ve raised awareness of key issues across diverse stakeholder groups, provided

resources, resulting in these communities being well placed to take steps towards STP in their own way,


and their own time. With a number of these communities, further opportunities may exist for them to

expand STP from the initial school community to others within their division, as we’ve seen Hanover

School Division do after their initial successes with Woodlawn School in the STP Pilot.

In the case of Headingley – Phoenix School is part of St. James-Assiniboia SD, and if STP found successes

here, there may be considerations made towards initiating STP in other schools in this division. Likewise,

Tyndall’s Gillis School is part of Sunrise SD, which has been experiencing many transportation issues with

increasing demands for bussing, along with increasing costs and decreasing budgets. Initiating STP

within Gillis School, may afford Sunrise SD with a living example of how they can create positive changes

that benefit all involved in terms of better, safer transportation options – that also save money in the

long-term.

Last year, ASRTS won the 2012 Manitoba Planners’ Award for its work in the School Travel Planning

pilot, giving this work and process further credibility. Nevertheless, STP is still an emerging planning

process, thus facing challenges in terms of buy-in and uptake in the short-term, particularly without

additional financial incentives to help ease the burden of municipalities, school divisions, RHA’s and

other sectors who all share the work in moving the process forward. Those communities who become

“early adopters” of STP, will help in validating and normalizing the process for other communities who

may have yet to reach the point of considering the safe and active travel needs of children. As such, it

would be worthwhile to offer further supports these communities trained in STP to enable them

towards their efforts in School Travel Planning. It remains to be seen what would be most helpful at this

point, but this question is evolving with time, and may be addressed in future initiatives.

Finally, despite the challenges expressed by communities, the overarching theme is our STP training is

valuable. The information on processes -- particularly participating in the walkabouts -- identifying issues

and generating solutions is empowering for training participants, as this gives them the means to further

this message to others within their community – whether parents, public officials and other decision-

makers. In training these key stakeholders, we give them the tools and resources to get the

conversations going that may eventually lead to taking on STP in a more comprehensive way. These

communities may well require further support and resources, but the future for School Travel Planning

in Manitoba appears promising, and ASRTS may well consider how to package its STP Facilitator Training

program in a fee-for-service structure, as so much of the foundation is already in place.

The rest of this document provides an overview of the trainings by community, including the date,

location of training, community attendees, external attendees (i.e. Chris Matthewson, Bruce Krentz),

Green Action Centre staff, along with a summary of that training, and some outcomes, challenges and

next steps as identified by respondents interviewed as part of the evaluation process. Complete

interview transcripts can be found on the server under ASRTS/STP/ STP Facilitator Training/Evaluation

folder.


STP Training Evaluation – Pinawa Overview

Training Date January 11, 2012

Location FW Gilbert Elementary School (School District of Whiteshell)

Attendees

Pinawa Community:

Darcia Light, Principal, FW Gilbert Elementary School <[email protected]>,

Brenda Gerstmar, Day Care Director <[email protected]>,

Rhonda Henschell, Town Councillor, Pinawa <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,

Marsha Sheppard, Chair – Age-Friendly Committee <[email protected]>,

New Rec Director (stayed for about an hour) [email protected]

External Attendees:

Sandra Jones, National STP Training – Green Communities Canada <[email protected]>

Chris Mathhewson, Issues Specialist - Vulnerable Road Users, MPI [email protected]

Bruce Krentz, Regional Health Promotion Coordinator, Burntwood RHA (via Skype)

Green Action Centre:

Jackie Avent

Masha Giller

Evaluation Interviews:

Rhonda Henschell

Darcia Light

Summary

Pinawa was where we piloted our first School Travel Planning Facilitator Training day, and although there was

great receptivity towards STP within the community and training attendees, a number of issues impeded the

uptake of STP in a comprehensive way. That said, Pinawa has an Age-Friendly committee that’s very interested in

Complete Streets and STP is a good fit, in theory. In practice, there’s been an increase in awareness around the

issues our training day presented and identified, along with some positive outcomes, Rhonda Henschell identifies.

Outcomes

Rhonda Henschell:

For me, we had talked a lot on our walkabout about how traffic and people moved around the streets of our

community. The ploughed path we walked near the school last January is now a completed walking path from the

main road to the School. Late September of last year (2012), we created a permanent path there, 4 feet across. It’s

being maintained and functioning well.

mailto:[email protected]


For me, going through the training and being able to take this information back to Council was useful. I could the

point that we needed to do this, and explain why. We need to be accountable (as Council), and this provided a way

to help prioritize this work, and now we finally see it completed – it’s a big plus. Darcia (Light, Principal, FW Gilbert

School) is very happy with it. She’s very keen on doing a Walking School Bus – and we never did get anywhere with

that yet, but the walking path alleviated many safety concerns for children, so we’re a little further ahead than we

were before.

Challenges

Rhonda Henschell:

Unfortunately for us, it never did get back to the stage of who plays what roles in the process.

We have not initiated School Travel Planning. There have been a number of factors that have contributed

to this – Darcia’s absence from the committee (Age Friendly) is one, I no longer have children at that

school (they’re older and have moved onto their new school), the School District is undergoing a major re-

structuring this year and I’m sure Darcia’s absence is due in part to that. Our Age-Friendly Chair (Marsha

Sheppard – also STP Training participant) has stepped down. Brenda Gerstmar (Daycare Director, also STP

Training participant) resigned, was replaced and this replacement has also been replaced. So we have a

very new Director at that daycare now. All of these have impacted us. If Darcia was to attend our

Committee (Age Friendly) meetings and get involved, I’m sure we’d see some progress.

Next Steps

Darcia Light:

We still want to move forward, and particularly participate in events like iWALK, Clean Air Day, and get the

Walking School Bus going. I like that idea a lot, and we need to figure out a way to make that happen.


STP Training Evaluation – Brandon Overview

Training Date February 21, 2012 Location Brandon Regional Health Centre – Nurses Residence (West Lounge)

Attendees

Brandon Community:

Lena Boisjoli – Vice-Principal, Ecole New Era School <[email protected]>,

Cst. Dave M. Scott (HSRO) – Brandon Police <[email protected]>,

Mari Kitching - Brandon RHA <[email protected]>,

Eve Shakotko – Early Childhood Educator, Amis la Source Day Care <[email protected]>,

Ralph Clark – Phys Ed/Health Ed Specialist, Brandon School Division <[email protected]>,

External Attendees:

Chris Matthewson, Issues Specialist - Vulnerable Road Users, MPI [email protected]



Jackie Avent

Masha Giller


Ralph Clark

Mari Kitching

Summary

The training in Brandon occurred on the eve of the 2012 Manitoba Planners Conference (where Green Action

Centre went on to win the 2012 Manitoba Planning Excellence Award for School Travel Planning), and we had

hoped to engage additional participants in our training from Conference attendees. However, this did not occur,

and additional training attendees who had either confirmed their attendance (Steve Hayward (Engineer - City of

Brandon), or wished to attend Angie Veilleux (Senior Planner, Department of Planning and Building - City of

Brandon), though conference responsibilities precluded attending. Although, at the time of our training Ecole New

Era School was interested in STP, shortly after the school experienced a number of large changes which resulted in

bad timing for undertaking a project of this scope. That said, it seems Brandon SD is interested in STP, and Ralph

Clark will be considering what other schools could be approached to initiate these conversations.



Outcomes

Mari Kitching:

I think doing the walkabout & having other community members present as well – having their

perspective – as we looked at the sidewalks, intersections and other issues. It was good that we were all

together to look at the issues, and consider what others thought about safety.

Challenges

Mari Kitching:

Unfortunately, the timing was really off for Ecole New Era School, in terms of moving forward with STP.

This would be a good school to implement STP at – however, they’ve had a lot of staffing issues and it’s

just not the right time. (Note: New Era School participated in the training, via the VP, Lena Boisjoli, who

was not interviewed)

Ralph Clark:

One school that participated in the training (Lena Boisjoli, Vice Principal @ Ecole New Era School) is very

interested in STP, however due to the amount of turmoil the school has experienced recently – in the

positive sense – with large EAL growth in the student population, and then with 100+ students leaving

school due to changes in school boundaries, it’s been challenging in terms of timing. I’m very keen to

assist this school, but because of the number of changes that have occurred over the past year to year

and a half – it would have been too demanding to have them take something like this on with all of this

happening at the same time.

I am hoping to continue on that discussion with this school, but also know that with current demands on

staff it would be unrealistic to add that on and expect it to work well and be successful. Because for that

to happen (successful), it would need to be a positive experience. Key individuals would be needed to

participate – yet with possible turnover with staff, we’d want to wait till things settle down a bit, before

sitting down with key people from the school.

Next Steps

Mari Kitching:

A realistic goal at this point would be letting all the other schools in Brandon know about STP, and

drumming up interest. Educating all the other schools on STP, on this process – it’s feasible and realistic

for Brandon. Ralph Clark would be the best positioned to do this – he’s a great champion for physical

activity, and he sits on other committee(s) that are education-related.


STP Training Evaluation – The Pas Overview

Training Date March 5, 2012

Location Kelsey Community School (Kelsey SD)

Attendees

The Pas Community:

Lorraine Packo, Centre Director, The Pas Action Center <[email protected]>,

Doug Long <[email protected]>,

Tracy Kirkness, Family Liaison Worker, Kelsey Community School <[email protected]>,

Julia McKay, Principal, Kelsey Community School <[email protected]>,

Cst. Gilles Gravelles, RCMP Officer, The Pas

Flin Flon Community:

Blaine Veitch, Superintendent, Flin Flon School Division <[email protected]>,

Confirmed, but did not attend:

Candi Marks - <[email protected]>,

Sonny Lavallee - <[email protected]>,

Tamara Stevens <[email protected]>,

Pete Bignell <[email protected]>

External Attendees:



Jackie Avent

Evaluation Interviews

Tracy Kirkness (The Pas)

Julia McKay (The Pas)

Blaine Veitch (Flin Flon)

Summary (The Pas)

Traffic and safety issues in The Pas were foremost on the minds of a number of training day attendees, as well as

those who confirmed, but did not attend. I had numerous contacts both by phone and email with many individuals

who were interested in addressing these issues and taking action, thus there was a lot of support for the STP

Facilitator Training day in The Pas. Uptake on STP has been limited to some positive actions, but without a formal

process. Further challenges in terms of having an STP Facilitator, along with a lack of support from several key

stakeholder groups, were identified by Julia McKay. Nevertheless, Kelsey Community School has taken some great

steps forward to address issues around traffic, and incentivized walking and biking through their iWALK Club,

which we featured in the March 2013 issue of Off on the Right Foot.











Lastly, this training in The Pas was the only one where Jackie Avent presented solo, and didn’t include MPI’s Chris

Matthewson. It also included an attendee from Flin Flon, Superintendent Blaine Veitch, whose points are captured

in a separate section below.

Outcomes (The Pas)

Julia McKay:

The training day really inspired us to take actions, including getting started with the iWalk Club, as well as

initiating the crossing guard program. We’ve talked with our Parent Council about our goals regarding

parent parking (and having more parents use that, rather than stopping in front of the school), as well as

the iWALK Club – which came as a result of the webinars. The response from our Parent Council was great

– and that they’d do whatever they can to encourage other parents.

Challenges (The Pas)

Tracy Kirkness:

How to go about motivating people: Although we covered this a little bit during the training, we still don’t

have anyone who wants to take it on (STP). And we’re left with this feeling of: Now what?

For us here at Kelsey Community School – if someone could head this up, we’d be really interested.

Somebody has to take the lead – and so far there’s no one that’s stepped forward. Yet we’d really like to

see something happen and in the meantime, we’re taking smaller steps (i.e. starting IWalk Club & School

Patrols). Not having funding for this is definitely an issue. If there was money to pay someone to take this

on, then this would easily get done. But as it is, everyone’s already so busy – and there’s no additional

time or money for this.

Julia McKay:

The traffic hasn’t got any better, unfortunately. Getting police to come by would be great – and each

school is supposed to have a Community Liaison Officer, however our RCMP is so burdened with what’s

going on elsewhere and so traffic just isn’t one of their issues. They just don’t seem to get it. Something

we’ve even started to do is talk to the kids about it we say to them:

“Tell your parents not to drop you off in front of the school”, because this creates congestion, and

dangerous situations. Yet it doesn’t change.

Our RHA & municipality always talk a really good line, yet when it comes to actually getting them to

meetings and getting things done, they have a million excuses as to why they can’t. That said, how to

improve traffic at the school is still on the School Board’s agenda. And when the weather warms up, it

does lessen the traffic issues.


Next Steps (The Pas)

Julia McKay:

Realistic for now is just to have the parents learn safer driving habits – so we can have more safety around

the school. And of course to educate the kids on safety too. Educating everybody is big. We hope you can

encourage us all to get going with this (STP). At the beginning, everyone’s typically gung-ho – but if it’s

not kept up, people forget, and other priorities seep in. But this will take time, and contact will remain

through emails and phone calls. We’re further in what changes we’ve seen and more aware of the road

blocks we’re facing. I would like this to be on everyone’s radar, and just part of the way we do business, as

it were.

Summary (Flin Flon)

Blaine Veitch, Superintendent from the Flin Flon SD was the sole attendee from his community when he attended

our STP Training Day in The Pas. Keeping this reality in mind, there has not been a great deal of uptake in terms of

the STP process, but it still resulted in a Walking School Bus getting started as a pilot in one of the schools. Blaine

mentions the need for a local champion to be in place – whether a local champion or an actual STP Facilitator – this

points to the need for prioritizing this position (STP Facilitator), along with the value our training does provide,

even if it’s to one individual in a given community. If ASRTS chooses to continue with training in a fee-for-service

capacity, Flin Flon may be a good target for further training, where we engage more of the key community

stakeholders in this process, which is definitely required to initiate and move forward with STP.

Outcomes (Flin Flon)

Blaine Veitch:

Yes, the whole Walking School Bus thing – we’re starting that. Practical experiences and examples like

walking around the school is something we’ve done. The Walking School Bus is working in one school,

although the issue is having someone at the school level to champion it. To make these things happen,

you really need a local champion in place.

After the training session, I shared this with our administrative group. And so we’re doing this Walking

School Bus pilot in one school. We’re running it as a pilot, and we’ll see what happens with that – we’ll

definitely want to review it, but so far the feedback has been positive. Right now, though with this

weather so cold, we’re really looking forward to it warming up, so more kids can start walking again.

Another thing of course is that the WSB addresses other issues kids experience while walking, like

bullying. Often kids walking experience hassles with other kids, and having the WSB definitely deals with

that. Once it’s spring, we’ll be seeing more activity with it (WSB), and hopefully some good things will

continue to happen with it.


Challenges (Flin Flon)

Blaine Veitch:

Knowing there’s a planning document and knowing how it’s laid out (i.e. STP) if a school wanted to pursue

it, they could take it on. Looking for opportunities to promote it. With our situation, there’s not a lot of in-

town bussing, the kids are already walking. And the areas being bused are those past a reasonable

distance (to walk) – especially in winter. With parents we’re seeing some improvements, and some take

longer to win over. In terms of promotion of health – what more could we do? I’m not sure, nothing

comes to mind other than The Pas – and if we could share ideas with like-minded people there.

Next Steps (Flin Flon)

Blaine Veitch:

We haven’t done any real goal-setting at this point.


STP Training Evaluation – Headingley Overview

Training Date November 19, 2012

Location Phoenix School (St. James SD)

Attendees

Headingley Community:

Susanne Moore, Recreation/RM of Headingley [email protected] Lisa White, Principal, Phoenix School [email protected] Louise Hutton, Headingley Recreation & Parks Advisory Committee [email protected] Karl Gompf , Chair, Parks & Rec Committee [email protected] Dania Parkinson, Phoenix Parent Advisory Committee [email protected] Genevieve Lefebvre , Healthy Living Facilitator, RHA South [email protected]

External Attendees:




Jackie Avent

Masha Giller

Anders Swanson


Lisa White

Louise Hutton

Karl Gompf

Genevieve Lefebvre

Summary

The STP Training in Headingley represents a significant shift in the way our workshop evolved into more of the

*working* workshop we envisioned from the earlier planning stages of this project. Anders Swanson, who has

been working on contract with ASRTS for our app project, played a key role in making this transition, and was

instrumental in facilitating a very focused discussion in terms of identifying issues generated through our

walkabout, to following through on possible solutions. As a result, participants left feeling they accomplished a

great deal through our training, and moved towards small steps in the STP process. Nevertheless, one key barrier is

the absence of an STP Facilitator to take on this process, a point raised by several community members in my

interviews. One way of addressing this – at least initially – is the RHA’s contribution of a $2000 grant – a direct

result of Genevieve Lefebvre’s attendance at our training day. This $2K grant may be used either towards the

cost of an STP Facilitator honorarium, or for providing helmet safety education in the community. This will be at

the community’s discretion in terms of how they choose to use this grant. In either case, it will be a contribution

towards improving safety, and encouraging active travel for children in Headingley.









Outcomes

Lisa White:

I think that when we got together as a group to follow up, there were definitely things to talk about.

We’ve done surveys with the kids to see how they were getting to and from school, and need to see how

to make it safer for kids to come by foot or bike. The bike racks – we’re looking at where to put those so

that the bikes are safe, too. Speaking to parents about all this is important, too – and these are all

practical ideas that came out of the training. We’re hoping the RM gets involved. There are things the RM

could do to make it safer. We’re trying to put things into place, especially once the weather gets better.

Of course, there is room for improvement, and we’ll continue to make plans, and convincing parents it’s

the best for their kids. They need that break to be outside, and we’d love to see more of that, in terms of

walking and biking to school.

Karl Gompf

People with experience all know the challenges in the community – and we know change is possible –

especially with good communications. This training we had certainly sparked some change – and the

municipality and the school are talking now (which wasn’t happening before. the sign being installed in

front of the school during the training is an example. The school hadn’t been informed or consulted on

that sign, prior to it being installed). Since the training the RM and school has met and these discussions

are now happening – and people are working together, rather than in isolation.

Genevieve Lefebvre

Well, we haven’t done a lot since then. We started to think how to best support Headingley,

Morden/Winkler and Portage a bit more with this. I have 8 different School Divisions I work with, and it’s

quite different from one region to another. One thing that’s hard with this is there’s no facilitator to

lead and put this together. To help, we (RHA) put together a small grant for $2000, to support

communities and possibly contribute to the STP Facilitator Honorarium. We’re giving communities the

option to use this money to either support their STP Facilitator with an honorarium, or to use it for a

Helmet Safety Campaign, because some communities are doing something around helmet safety, which in

a way supports STP also. Either way, we’re hoping $2k is enough to get started with STP.

It’s a little pot of money, and the cheques are in the mail. In the case of Headingley, it was sent to

Susanne Moore, so it’s upto her to identify how that will get used. Perhaps, if they’re not moving fast

enough on School Travel Planning, she may choose to use it on injury prevention instead – and we never

did have a second meeting for STP. We also sent one to Morden – and they have a very strong, active

town and school. So we’ll see how that works.


Challenges

Karl Gompf:

During my next meeting of the Parks & Rec Committee, I was able to refer to this experience and the way

fresh eyes (and the different perspectives) positively affect the group. Right now, our local council (RM of

Headingley) is taking over a piece of Roblin Blvd. from the province and we’re meeting to discuss this

project – and I’ve referred to and shared information around the walkabout with that group, because it

provides so many diverse viewpoints and ideas in terms of planning. Council is moving ahead with plans

for this project to create a path on the South side of Roblin, and a bicycle path on the North side – yet

they’re not involving the persons who’ll be directly affected. Their plans are underway – there’s going to

be a fair bit of construction, and they’ll be looking at drainage issues, and widening the road to make it

safer. But are they looking at it from the recreation perspective? They haven’t consulted with the Rec

Director – and being in the training and taking part in the walkabout really demonstrated the value of

having all these different viewpoints present. And making sure to consult with them on those issues.

Louise Hutton:

What do we do now? We’re stagnating at this point. We did have some initial help from the RHA and

Parent Advisory Council person – but everyone’s really busy. I think that’s what’s held us up – we need

someone with experience to facilitate the process.

Next Steps

Lisa White:

In terms of our next steps, we need to make some adjustments – perhaps different locations for bus drop

offs, making our roads safer, continuing the conversation with the RM to ensure the safety of kids. The

cars go so quickly – what can we do to slow down the traffic? We want our kids to feel free to walk or

bike safely. Also, are there ways to have the bus stop further from the school and what’s the safety

impact of that? We still have to meet, and we’re in the initial planning stages of that, so we need to

solidify plans – and do it more often, not just time-to-time (having kids walking/biking). Kids ought to be

able to do it more consistently (walk and bike).

Karl Gompf:

My major concern with Roblin Boulevard will get addressed. The idea of cut-throughs from street to

street – if that’s not possible, what about a Walking School Bus? A number of things did get tackled as a

result of the training – we have more children arriving by bike, now. And if a few people get on board,

others will too. Parents don’t see a safe way for their kids to be getting to school. There must be ways for

us to talk to parents, and get them together -- having kids walking or biking together. Perhaps we could

get seniors to help out with that? Perhaps there are other ideas out there that we can look into.

Louise Hutton:

To keep it front and centre – to keep building relationships and partnerships. I think we need to keep this

(STP) in mind with all we’re planning around the community.


STP Training Evaluation – RM Brokenhead (Tyndall) Overview

Training Date December 3, 2012

Location Gillis School, Tyndall (Sunrise SD)

Attendees

RM Brokenhead Community:

Jody Wielgosh, Principal, Gillis School <[email protected]>,

Bonnie Stefansson, Wellness Facilitator, Interlake-Eastern RHA <[email protected]>,

Seargent Evans, RCMP Officer, RM Brokenhead <[email protected]>,

Sherri Perrett, Recreation Director, Recreation Commission & Gillis PAC <[email protected]>,

Al Tymko, School Trustee, Sunrise SD <[email protected]>,

Don Mazur, School Trustee, Sunrise SD <[email protected]>,

Michelle Barrett, Gillis PAC Chair <[email protected]>,

Sean Michaels, Councillor, RM Brokenhead <[email protected]>,

Christine Hutlet, Chief Administrative Officer, RM Brokenhead <[email protected]>

Mandy Costley, Public Works Administrative Assistant, [email protected]

External Attendees:




Jackie Avent

Masha Giller

Anders Swanson


Jody Wielgosh

Bonnie Stefansson

Sherri Perrett

Summary

Our STP Training in Tyndall was the one with the largest community turnout, along with what appears to be a fair

amount of political issues underpinning the level of action we can expect to see coming out from our training. This

was evident during the workshop: when the Reeve arrived, the Councillor left. In interviewing some of the

attendees, the issue of politics in the community came up, and how certain elected officials were definitely not on

board with anything related to public health, or recreation – and possibly even safety. Politics aside, this workshop

appeared to be the best of the ones I’d attended, in that there was a great turnout overall, everyone was very

concerned about the issues at hand, and the facilitated discussion Anders conducted following the walkabout,

generated great insights, ideas and what appeared like much will to move forward. However, there has been little













progress made for now, which is not necessarily an indicator for further action towards School Travel Planning. If

the community can find their way to holding further meetings, and engaging the Councilors keen on STP, along

with other levels of government, there may indeed be an STP emerging from Tyndall, however there is definitely

much work to be done – and it remains to be seen how they address the issue of having an STP Facilitator to guide

the process.

Outcomes

Jody Wielgosh:

I’ve shared a lot of the info with staff and the PAC. We had an initial meeting with the municipality,

however it’s hard to gauge support for safe, active transport. That support stops when it costs money.

There isn’t any commitment to go further because of the money needed to do anything. Roadblocks

certainly exist. The CAO of the RM (Christine Hutlet – attended training, however wasn’t interviewed) is

fully supportive, but she isn’t a voting member – she’s not a councilor, and without that support, it

doesn’t go further.

Sherri Perrett:

I brought this to the PAC, in terms of getting a Walking School Bus going. I was going to show them one of

the videos you’d shown us (on WSB) – we’d be looking at wanting to start something up in the spring.

I’m a voice now. It’s extremely important and we need to get volunteers on board and make this happen.

For me this is an opportunity to voice my opinion to parents and the board. This can’t wait – someone

could get hurt, and this just can’t wait any longer. So in terms of what I can do – I’ll need permission from

the Board to get started.

Bonnie Stefansson:

What we’re doing is celebrating that the training happened in the first place – and this is happening

through a conference that will highlight the positive first steps the community took. This will all be done

at the Healthy Together Now Conference, where we’ll look at the role individuals, organizations and

coalitions play in making healthy choices easy ones – and in this case, an example would be to focus on

walking, as a first step.

Challenges

Jody Wielgosh:

If anything was missing, it’s the necessary next steps. We’re not sure where we’re going next, and what

we need to do. We’re struggling with what we can do, especially when politics are in place. We have 3

levels of government we’re dealing with (LUD, RM, Province), who are not on the same page and not in

agreement, which makes things very difficult.


Next Steps

Jody Wielgosh:

This is a tough one – one of the easiest things for us to do initially is to just move the bike rack into plain

view – that’s a simple one for us to do. Of course, we need to continue the dialogue with government

officials. As we grow in our community, our problem with this is getting bigger. This is a good use of tax

dollars, and lobbying the Province to do something on this Provincial Trunk Road would probably be

necessary – it is still the Province with jurisdiction over that road. Sean Michaels is still passionate about it

– and it’s just going to be about finding the right time to start the next steps.

Sherri Perret

We’re waiting for Jody to book the next meeting, as he said he was going to do during the training day.

Right now, it’s just to get things started – we need to get a group together, start meeting and just: start!

Further down the road, if we could identify an actual *Safe Route to School*, have a functional crosswalk,

and just make this work and have everyone safe – that would be really great! But we still have a long way

to go.


STP Training Evaluation – Town of Morden Overview

Training Date December 11, 2012

Location Access Event Center, Town of Morden

Attendees

Morden Community:

Dave Haines, Director Planning and Engineering, Town of Morden [email protected]

Les Wieler, Director of Public Works, Town of Morden <[email protected]>,

Cheryl Pearson, Healthy Living Facilitator, Southern RHA [email protected],

Sean Aune, Local Police [email protected],

Lane Curry, Vice Principal, Maple Leaf School [email protected],

Allan Toews, Supervisor of Operations, Western School Division, [email protected],

Clare Agnew, Director of Community Services, Town of Morden <[email protected]>

External Attendees:




Jackie Avent

Anders Swanson

Shoni Litinsky


Dave Haines

Summary

The STP Training Day in Morden was organized slightly differently from the others, in that Dave Haines took on

engaging his community’s key stakeholders directly himself – and kept their contact information to himself in both

the lead-up to our training day, as well as afterwards. He also took on arranging the meeting space, as well as

connected me with the caterers in Morden – thus his role was expanded a fair bit from what other community

contacts did elsewhere. This also resulted in little contact on my part with any of the participants in advance of the

training, which I also did not attend, but Shoni went in addition to Jackie and Anders. In conducting the evaluation,

Dave Haines did send me the contact emails for training attendees (see above), however his was the only interview

I managed to obtain from that group. My thoughts are that in the absence of any previous contact with training

attendees, it’s harder to get responses after the fact. Dave Haines was phenomenal in all that he did to encourage

his community to attend, and his thoughtful responses in the interview. It seems that though things are in the

early stages in Morden in terms of STP, the community has done a fair bit around AT already, which bodes well for

further steps in the process. Note that based on Dave’s responses, I merged the Challenges/Next Steps sections

below.



Outcomes

Dave Haines:

Every time we asked for help, you’ve been incredible. And we’re really appreciative of that. You may not

hear a lot of feedback, but your influence goes further, and well beyond what you imagine it to be. We

recently made a presentation on STP to our Council, and we’ve got the politicians and councilors on side,

which wouldn’t have happened the way it has, were it not for the work you’ve done in building this

awareness here.

Challenges/Next Steps

Dave Haines:

To get through to the next step for us – well, from the City’s perspective we need to get ourselves

organized. Right now we’re somewhat fragmented in how we deal with AT, and we need to get ourselves

in order. Next, we’ll need to follow through on our commitments and connections made from the STP

Training and figure out the parameters for those relationships. With schools and cities, there aren’t a lot of

opportunities to work together. We need to figure out where does our responsibility start and end, and

where do we have responsibilities in regards to schools. Also, we don’t treat children as having a voice in

the process. Those are our challenges. And so we start with ourselves, though we are strapped for

resources and time.


Appendix A: Environment Canada Reporting Narrative

Project Summary Environment Canada would like to share your project experiences and successes as inspiration for other groups and Canadians across the country. Please provide a summary outlining the importance, the objectives and major results for this project. (This summary will/could be used in EC’s communications plan) School Travel Planning is a collaborative, community-based approach towards addressing children’s safe and active mobility needs in the community. The STP Facilitator Training we conducted worked to build an important knowledge-base within the communities we trained, empowering their key decision-makers to take action towards improving safe active travel for children within their community. As a result, every community we’ve trained (with one exception) has taken various steps to improving safety and increasing activity levels for children traveling to and from school. These positive actions and results have included:

Infrastructure projects – sidewalk/pathway (Pinawa)

iWALK club (The Pas)

School Patrol Program (The Pas)

Walking School Bus Program (Flin Flon)

Hand’s up Surveys – Data Collection (Headingley)

Meeting between School & Municipality – initiating relationship that hadn’t previously existed (Headingley)

Regional Health Authority Creating $2000 grant to support STP efforts in 3 communities, including Headingley and Morden (Headingley and Morden)

Incorporating information from STP Training into their municipal planning processes (Morden)

Sharing STP information with elected officials, creating their buy-in (Morden)

Celebrating training & sharing information in the Healthy Together Now Conference (RM Brokenhead)

Every community expressed additional outcomes, which spoke to the impact our STP Facilitator Training had on their collective knowledge-base around these issues, along with the need for communicating these messages to other key audiences. These include the need for:

Creating awareness of safety, health, infrastructure and other key issues

Raising awareness of various resources and tools to address problems

Raising awareness of need to take action on this

Taking further action steps (Walking School Bus, educating parents & other drivers, lowering speeds, creating safe pathways, finding and mapping safer routes to school, data collection on children’s travel behaviours, participating in special events – i.e. iWalk, Clean Air Day, etc)

What have you learned from this project experience that could serve as advice to other organizations looking to undertake a similar initiative? Assuming your training material and resources are in place, engaging the right communities is critical to successful trainings, as is providing concrete experiences to draw from, as in the case of the walkabout, which serves to raise awareness of the relevant issues in a very direct way. In terms of what makes a community “right” for this type of training and capacity-building: ideally, there’s already an interest in AT, or children’s safe and active mobility needs or issues. It’s important to have this foundation to facilitate that initial interest in doing more around those issues, thus committing to the STP Training process, and considering the means with which to initiate it. Even with this in place, expect establishing a training date to take some time. You need to have the right people in the room to make this a worthwhile process, and having these key stakeholder groups (i.e School Administrator, School Division Administrator, RCMP/Police, Municipal Engineer and/or Planner, Regional Health Authority


Representative, Municipal Public Works, Recreation and/or Trails Representative, Parent Advisory Council Representative, Elected Official/Councilor, etc.) present is crucial to having a successful training and start to the School Travel Planning process. The reason for this being the more diverse your key stakeholders are, and the larger the community capacity is in dealing with these issues, for this knowledge becomes shared amongst these groups empowering further decision-making and action steps in the process.

Documents

STP Training Evaluation - Final Summary (MGiller)