Last week Courtney had a post about her two friends that take their children to an elementary school that has a policy banning children from riding their bikes, scooters, skateboards to school, even when accompanied by a parent. She asked in the end of the post, “Why should parents have to “sneak around” to bike their kids to school”, she said. “We live within a mile of the school and I would want to be able to ride my son to school at least some of the time”. What is your school’s policy?
Thank you for all your comments on FB, twitter and on our site. And a special thank you to Courtney for posting this story.
Here are some of the comments from our community and hopefully some helpful information if this is an issue for you in your school.
Mike in Playborhood
Reading this makes me realize how fortunate we are to live where we do. On nice days, I’d say that about one third of kids ride to my son Marco’s school. I’ve been making the 1-1/2 mile bike trip with him *every* day, rain or shine (but no snow! we’re in California), since he started kindergarten last year. I can honestly say that riding bikes to and from school was one of the best things about his kindergarten experience. Here’s an article I wrote about this:
The Benefits of Riding Bikes to School
By the way, he’s just started riding to school on his own once in a while. He’s really becoming a very responsible kid!
Suz Slow family online
Our area employs a program called Safe Routes to School National Partnership. I recommend people in the U.S. look into it. Through Safe Routes involvement, a culture shift has occurred and many more kids walk and ride than they did 10 years ago. Improvements include crossing guards, better bike racks, traffic safety and education, bike and walking path maintenance and car-free days. It helps everyone when kids learn to walk and ride and gain some empowerment and a sense of their communities, in addition to helping the planet. Parents can walk with their kids (time and distances permitting) until they can graduate to getting to school by themselves. Outlawing alternative transportation seems like the complete wrong message.
Torun (Oslo,Norway)
We (Oslo, Norway) have a policy where you have to be a 5th grader to ride a bike to school. Walking is strongly encouraged however, and most of the young kids are accompanied by one of the parents, in groups of 3-5 per adult, in a rotation. I can understand the bike restriction, although it’s annoying. It would be chaos with that many bikes at the same time, especially when some of them are untrained. Pity for our youngest. He has biked to daycare on two wheels since he turned three and will have a hard time accepting it.
Tabita
How can the school dictate what you do on public roads? I’m in Canada, so maybe we’re in a different world completely, but our school just paid for a 3rd bike rack last year, and they are all FULL! Many parents use bikes (and kid trailers) as their only means of transportation. I can’t imagine a school saying it wasn’t allowed!
Tina
Here you can ride bikes, scooters, skateboards, whatever, they don’t care. But there is no storage for anything but bikes, and kids cannot keep scooters etc with them in the school building, so parent have to bring those back home again. There are bike racks outside.
I’m not sure that schools have any legal standing to dictate how kids are transported to school. They do however have the right to not permit bikes etc on school grounds.
Kari
3rd 4th and 5th grade can ride their bikes to school. K-2 cannot at our elementary school.
Claire
Wow, that is crazy. Kids bike, scooter etc to our school. There are no school buses at all though so maybe that has something to do with it? I see parents waiting with bikes and helmets at pick up.
What do you think?
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