By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
School crossing guard Frank Novatkoski isn’t so lonely anymore.
Since school started two weeks ago, Mr. Novatkoski — who is posted at the corner of Bergen Street and Gordon Avenue — has been helping more and more children cross the street on their way to the Lawrenceville Elementary School.
”There are more children now,” Mr. Novatkoski said. “Parents are walking with them in groups. Compared to last year, there are more. There are about 20 to 30 (parents and children). There was about half that (amount) last year. It makes the time pass.”
At least some of that increase in walkers likely could be attributed to the “walking school bus” initiated by Overlook Way residents Ken and Trina Weingarten and their two daughters. But the walking school bus isn’t really a bus — it’s just old-fashioned walking to school.
The walking school bus grew out of the Weingarten family’s decision to walk their older daughter, 8-year-old Sofia, to school last year. Sofia, who was then a second-grader, had been driven to school by her parents since her days as a kindergarten student.
The family lives too close to LES for a school bus to be sent to pick up the elementary school students, but the Weingartens felt that Sofia was too young to walk to school alone. So, for the first couple of years, they drove her to school in the morning and picked her up in the afternoon.
Mrs. Weingarten, who, like her husband, is interested in environmental issues, said it would “bother” her to wait in line in the car with the engine idling when she drove Sofia to school in the morning.
But when Sofia entered second grade last year, the family made a “conscious effort” to begin walking to school — in part, Mr. Weingarten said, to allow him to engage in more exercise. And besides, it would be good exercise for Sofia.
”One morning, we called Sofia’s friend, Emily Steege. She lives on Dix Lane. We picked her up (on the walk to school) and now walking to school became fun. It was the three of us,” Mr. Weingarten said.
Sofia, Emily and Mr. Weingarten made the 12-minute walk to school every day — even in cold weather, when they bundled up. But when it rained or snowed or the sidewalks had not been shoveled, the girls were driven to school.
”We pretty much walked to school the whole year,” he said. “We didn’t let the cold stop us.”
Sometimes, the walk to school took an educational turn. Mr. Weingarten would quiz Sofia on the 20-word spelling list that she had to learn while they walked to school. Emily soon began to ask him to help her with her own list of spelling words, he said.
When September rolled around, Mr. and Mrs. Weingarten knew that the “walking school bus” was going to become a little more crowded. Sofia’s younger sister, Elena, and Emily’s younger sister, Kirsten, were starting school as kindergarten students. All were going to walk to school.
”On the first day of school, we were headed up the block and when we got to Dix Lane, I thought, ‘Wow, there are a lot of people here.’ There were eight people waiting at the corner,” Mr. Weingarten said.
Those eight include LES students and their parents. And as the group walked past another house on Dix Lane, they saw the parents strapping their young son into his car seat, so they called out to the family and invited them to walk, Mr. Weingarten said.
”They got out of their car and all of a sudden, they joined us,” he said. “We all started walking to school. There were 15 of us.”
The Weingartens set out for school at the same time every morning, so the other families know that they will be arriving at the corner of Dix Lane at a certain time and they can join the group walk their children to school.
The addition of some younger children who are just starting school at LES also has helped create a “snowball effect,” as neighboring families “see all of this walking happening” and want to join the group, he said.
”There are so many benefits to the walking school bus,” Mr. Weingarten said. “You get to spend time with your children and you are getting exercise. There are positive social benefits for all of us, and there are positive environmental benefits.”

