Commuting to school

[Aint Doody]

I just found out last week that the public school system here in Pendleton will not allow children to ride their bikes to school! I'm incredulous. Any suggestions on how our bike club could help in this situation?

[badgercat]

I guess it would help to know what (if any) reasoning they provided for the ban. Safety along routes to/from school? 6th graders terrorizing kindergartners in the parking lot? Just not wanting to pay for bike racks?

[Veronica]

Yeah, I'd find out why first.

It could be that years ago some little kid got hit while riding their bike to school and the parent sued. School districts don't like being sued.

Or the the district's lawyer decided it just wasn't a safe enough route and they wanted to avoid being sued.

I suspect that if there was less litigation in our society, there would be fewer rules.

Veronica

[Cataboo]

I think kids are the school's responsibility until they get in their front door.

At least that was the lecture we got at school... if you got off the bus & got into a fight with a neighbor kid, you could still be suspended for fighting. Even if you weren't at the bus stop & were walking elsewhere. School rules applied till you were in your front door.

I don't think there's many kids walking to school anymore - can kids walk in pendleton?

[Veronica]

I think kids are the school's responsibility until they get in their front door.

That's the way it is in CA.

Veronica

[Aint Doody]

Well, I'm glad y'all suggested I check with the school district. Guess what--they were surprised. They said there was no such policy. Children can ride their bikes. They have to use a lock and have to wear a helmet. I should have checked it all out first. I'm glad that I was misinformed.

[tulip]

Great news! Alot of school districts are actually encouraging bicycling and walking to school. There's a program called the Safe Routes to School that has been successful in quite a few places. It would be a shame for kids to not be able to walk or bike to school.

[Heifzilla]

I'd love for my kids to be able to ride their bikes to school. We live 1.8 miles from the school. But seeing as the only routes available to them are on 45 mph roads, this won't be happening.

The joys of rural-ish living :/ Interestingly enough, if we lived 1.4 miles away, I'd have to drive them to school because the district won't bus anyone who lives less than 1.5 miles away to school. And yet there is no safe way for them to walk or ride their bikes. Gotta love it.

Good to know that your district will let them ride to school, though.

[Biciclista]

There was an article about how Italy is addressing this problem. They have school 'buses' which are actually adults walking with children to school.
an adult is assigned to pick the kids up and they all walk together to and from school every day. Those 1.5 mile kids would benefit greatly from a system llike that. Having an adult with the kids makes the "unsafe roads" thing more safe, and motorists CAN be trained (somewhat) to slow down when they see the kids walking.
THere are now bike racks at all of the schools in my area, but i have yet to see a bike in one!

[sgtiger]

Our former school district had a no bike-to-school policy. The bike would be confiscated until a parent came to pick it up. For them, I believe it was a safety issue. No sidewalks and narrow margins along the road. Also, many morning commuters used it as an alternative to the busy highway that ran parallel to it a couple of blocks up. Some of those cars would whiz by at 40mph even though it was a school zone and a residential street. They really need to add speed bumps to that road.

Current school, fortunately, has no such policy. There is an ample amount of bike racks for the students and faculty and I usually see at least a couple of kids' bikes in it. A couple of the teachers ride on a regular basis, though I don't believe they bike-commute to work. And this year, DS's school was one of the starting points for an organized bike ride to the coast.

[shootingstar]

In Vancouver (excluded suburbs), there is currently the first-ever large scale cycling program for children to develop safe cycling skills.

http://www.vacc.bc.ca/bts/bts.php?pageID=79

My understanding is that the program will target approx. 3,000 school children across several schools over a period of less than 2 months. The program is currently led by a cyclist, a retired school principal. His lobbying efforts have been supported by a few cyclists, who themselves are school teachers.

The program coordinator(s) approach the target schools and work via key teachers in each school.

It's a great foundation to start.

I pass several schools on my regular cycling rides in early morning these past few weeks. Only 1 school, I noticed total of less than 5 different children on a bike..usually accompanied by an adult.

[Aint Doody]

Shooting Star--that looks really great. Keep us informed on its progress.

[shootingstar]

Today at the Bike to Work Wk. finale BBQ event, I coincidentally met one of the high school teachers. His school (probably led by him) did implement Bike to Work/School Wk.

Each day this wk., there was an average of 8-10 students that biked to work from his high school. Considering that 2 of the days this week, it was several hrs. of continuous wet rain either in morning or at end of afternoon, it's not terrible.

He had 3 student volunteers in tow to help with the free Bike valet service which allow safe storage of bikes in a penned area for a large outdoor event. He made sure they were fed with burgers and juice. These type of events are great fun things for teens to volunteer, given the relaxed tone of any cycling event.