School district and city officials realize that there are problems with the pedestrian route many students take to neighboring campuses of La Rosa Elementary School and Cesar Chavez Junior High School.

The south side of Whitmore Avenue does not have a continuous sidewalk, meaning students are diverted to the north side. It's not an ideal situation.

To help come up with ideas over a proposed solution, the community is invited to a forum set for Tuesday, Feb. 3 at the Cesar Chavez Junior High Gymnasium, 2701 Eastgate Blvd. Participants are asked to show up between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. for registration with the workshop from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Persons are asked to reserve a spot by calling Lourdes Perez at 541-0101 or emailing her at mlperez@centerforhumanservices.org. Parents, students, community members, teachers and other school staff are invited to share their thoughts and concerns about safety, health and traffic on Whitmore Avenue between Mitchell Road and Eastgate Boulevard with the city officials.

"This is an opportunity for everyone to weigh in and help improve condition for walking and bicycling for families living in the La Rosa and Cesar Chavez school boundaries," said Perez, who is the program coordinator for the sponsoring group, the Ceres Partnership for Healthy Children (CPHC). "We hope many people will feel inclined to join us."

The city is looking to submit a Safe Routes to School application for infrastructure improvements in the Whitmore/Eastgate vicinity. The grant application requires community participation and feedback; for that reason, the city has requested Ceres Partnership for Healthy Children's help to organize a community forum and a walk to school event for La Rosa Elementary and Cesar Chavez schools.