By Izi Witt

We closed out February with one of our favorite annual events: Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day at Paragon Mills Elementary School! The event celebrates Ruby Bridges, the first African American student to attend an integrated public school in 1960, and emphasizes the importance of having a safe route to school.

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Metro Nashville Public School Board member Freda Player joined us and shared her memories of walking to school as a child. She spoke about the independence that it taught her, along with the community she was able to build with her neighbors and friends.

Our Executive Director, Meredith Montgomery, shared about the new addition to the walking route on Tampa Drive. Earlier in February, the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure completed the Tampa Drive traffic calming project, which features speed cushions and a walking path as a sidewalk alternative. This allows kids to walk safely to school on Tampa Drive.

Alternative walking paths are now an option in NDOT’s Neighborhood Street Traffic Calming Process Manual and Toolkit for eligible streets undergoing the traffic calming process. We’re happy to see this progress, as we advocated for this addition in our State of Our Streets report. Alternative walking paths give people safe spaces to walk by restriping the road to add a lane for walking separated by delineators. If your street meets the width and driveway requirements, you can apply for your street to begin the traffic calming process here. Applications are accepted all year, and projects will be chosen twice a year. 

Paragon Mills Counselor, Ms. T.K., led us on the walk along with Paragon Mills Elementary School alum Tanya Debro, who was one of the first Black students to attend the school after it was integrated in 1971. Fredrick Weathersby and his Quintet played us off with lively jazz music. The parade drew neighbors out and encouraged students to join us on our walk, and kids were greeted at school by the Tennessee Titans’ mascot, T-Rac.

Walk Bike Nashville values leading with joy and possibility, and there was no better way to see that in action than Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day! It was encouraging to see so many students, teachers, and neighbors come together to celebrate Ruby Bridges and being able to do so safely. 

Special thanks to Bobbi Negrón and Abby Conner of Paragon Mills Elementary School and Koby Langer and Chris Augustinos of NDOT for making this event possible!