“Turn it off so we don’t caugh!” chanted kindergarten cheerleaders at Robinson Elementary School in Manhattan Beach during their No Idle Zone assembly on June 7th. Inspired by the No Idle Zone Activity on the Grades of Green website, students at Robinson held a No Idle Zone rally in February that caught the attention of Assemblymember David Hadley. Since February, the entire community has rallied behind Robinson’s student-led No Idle Zone, which encourages parents to turn off the car engine while waiting to pick-up kids from school. Encouraging parents to turn off their car while waiting decreases the amount of carbon emitted from vehicles and increases the air quality our students breath.
Last year, David Hadley met Youth Corps Student Antonio who implemented the No Idle Zone Activity at his school in Long Beach. Assemblymember Hadley was so inspired by Antonio’s passion to decrease carbon emissions and increase the health of school-aged students, he authored a resolution (ACR 160) that will require schools across the state of California to encourage parents not to idle their engines while they drop off and pick up their students from school. The students were so excited about Assemblymember Hadley visiting their school that they made signs from recycled cardboard boxes supporting ACR 160 and made cheers about it! Check out the video below to see what Assemblymember Hadley spoke to the students about! Antonio and students from Robinson will be in Sacramento on June 23rd to see the resolution pass on the Assembly Floor. Want to impelement No Idle Zones at your school? Click here to find out how!