Editorial: Don't discourage kids from biking to school

Text Size: A | A | A

For the environment and their own health, children should be encouraged to ride a bike or walk to school. And a few districts are doing that, such as Shenendehowa, which has extended paths to and through campus. But others are doing just the opposite — either with decisions, like Ballston Spa’s, to build new schools in remote locations, or with stupid policies, like one enunciated by a New Jersey high school prinicipal, that actually discourage bicycling.

Members of the student environmental club at Bridgewater-Raritan High School had raised money to buy a bike rack for the school and promote cycling as a way to get there. But Principal James Riccobono rejected the rack (on Earth Day, no less), expressing concern over the safety of students competing with heavy bus and car traffic in front of the school and biking along a busy road on the way.

Students responded in a peaceful, purposeful manner: Last week 50 of them rode their bikes to school, commuting in pairs and groups. Then they conspicuously tied their bikes to trees, lamp posts, etc. along the circular driveway by the school entrance.

When students afterward sent Riccobono a letter protesting the bike rack prohibition, he responsed with his own letter, saying, “In as much as the district provides courtesy busing to students who live within walking distance of the school, because of the danger on Garretson Road, it does not make sense, in my opinion, to promote the riding of bicycles to school.” Meanwhile, the school provides a free parking space to every senior with a car, adding to the danger on Garretson Road, as well as the obesity epidemic.

Rather than trying to squelch their idea, the principal should have rewarded the students for their initiative and offered to work with them to get government to make Garretson Road safer or find other routes to school. It’s the difference between being an educator and a mere bureaucrat.

comments

May 7, 2008 5:02 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]

coachmike ( no real name given ) says... As for kids riding or walking to school, don't forget to mention safety rules when doing so: 1. Don't talk to strangers 2. Walk or ride with a group and not alone. 3. Obey all the traffice laws, using crosswalks, wear helmets to protect yourself and others. In anything you do, there are rules and they are set in the community for your protection and those you care about. USE THEM !