Back to school and Hazel Wolf

[Anne King]

Happy first day of school! Hope you're all off to a biking school year!

Any Hazel Wolf K8 parents on the list? If so, get in touch! Would love to get involved with bike to school efforts! (Only one other kid bike in the rack this morning). 

Anne King

anne...@gmail.com

[Karen Dugan]

  

Salmon Bay had 43 bikes in the rack this am!  Not bad for this weather.

Quick question to the community:

I spoke with our new principal this morning regarding our up coming plans for our walk/bike committee.  He expressed concern about enforcing riding rules around our school and suggested that we may need students who plan to ride to school to sign a contract with the school.  I told him that I had never ever heard of such a contract, but he was quick to tell me that it was not uncommon.  Do your schools require students to sign a contract in order to ride to/store their bike at school?  Has anyone heard of this before?  It seems like a deterrent to me.

Karen

Salmon Bay Bike racks 9/3/14 first day of school!

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[Kendall Wills]

Never heard of it before and I have run the program at Laurelhurst Elementary for 6 years. Depends what the contract is about but not a bad idea. i.e. walking bikes on school grounds, walking bikes at crosswalks around the school. During our busy bike times of the year it can get nuts on the school grounds with bikes.

My daughter just started Jane Addams MS and there were quite a number of bikes at school this a.m. (Maybe 30) Parents riding too. Some bike pools and walking groups are forming already.

Please add Steve Clark, Steve...@Comcast.net, to this email group. New head of Laurelhurst Safe and Active Routes to School.

Many thanks,

Kendall Wills

On Sep 3, 2014, at 1:38 PM, Karen Dugan <ka...@nixnux.org> wrote:

  

Salmon Bay had 43 bikes in the rack this am!  Not bad for this weather.

Quick question to the community:

I spoke with our new principal this morning regarding our up coming plans for our walk/bike committee.  He expressed concern about enforcing riding rules around our school and suggested that we may need students who plan to ride to school to sign a contract with the school.  I told him that I had never ever heard of such a contract, but he was quick to tell me that it was not uncommon.  Do your schools require students to sign a contract in order to ride to/store their bike at school?  Has anyone heard of this before?  It seems like a deterrent to me.

Karen

<image.jpeg>Salmon Bay Bike racks 9/3/14 first day of school!

On Sep 3, 2014, at 10:44 AM, Anne King <anne...@gmail.com> wrote:

Happy first day of school! Hope you're all off to a biking school year!

Any Hazel Wolf K8 parents on the list? If so, get in touch! Would love to get involved with bike to school efforts! (Only one other kid bike in the rack this morning). 

Anne King

anne...@gmail.com

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[Alyssa Smith]

Never heard of contract. We had pretty full racks at Whittier. Didn't get a count. Will try at pick up. Formed impromptu bike train of 8.

Alyssa

[Tim King]

Happy first Biking & Walking to School day, folks!

That's an Interesting idea about the contract. Part of me thinks that's a good idea (rules, expectations, and outcomes are great to clarify) and part of me shudders at the thought (what happens to kids who ride without a contract? Are they outlaws? Are they punished in some way?). And I'd actually hate to single out bikers in the name of "safety" when the kid who flips open the door to the family car and hops out without looking for approaching traffic is engaging in more dangerous behavior.

One thing that might be interesting is a general "Safe School Transportation Agreement" (or "Guidelines" or "Terms of Service" or "Contract" or whatever your school is comfortable calling it) that covers safe transportation behavior for ALL modes of transport. For example, the agreement should have have Walking, Biking, Bus, Private Vehicle, Scootering, Unicycling, and "Other" sections. Sort of a "Community Guidelines" for safe transport to and from school.

Does anything think that's a reasonable compromise? I bet I could find a doc online to crib from if I looked hard enough -- though if someone else wants to take a crack at it, I'm happy to post it on the Walk.Bike.Schools site for others to use.

Best,

Tim

Hazel Wolf K8 (6th Grade Biker)

Eckstein (8th Grade Walker)

[Per Johnson]

Not trying to be adversarial and to stir up conflict where it's not needed, but I would be concerned about a principal asking students to sign a riding rules contract.  There may be some campus safety measures or school rules that need to be obeyed and to remind students about, but asking K-8 students to sign a contract seems a bit bizarre.  Maybe I'm alone on an island on this though.  It also seems like unnecessary paperwork that would deter from goals that the District claim to hold and at odds with encouraging participate in National Bike to School Day.  

In searching the SPS website, there is no mention of any student contracts that I can find.  I don't know Principal Gerrans from Adam, so I don't want to pass judgement on him, but in looking up more information on him it appears that he cut recess time at Magnolia when he was there (http://www2.kuow.org/program.php?id=27099).  He's not alone in this and perhaps there were very good reasons for this and it's no indication of his overall view of student exercise.  But, as he's a relatively new principal, there may be opportunity there to push Principal Gerrans into more actively encouraging bike-to-school groups and events. Especially given a reported (Seattle Bike Blog) 2013 memo from former Superintendent Banda "urging all staff to engage students and school communities about biking to school and organizing group rides to class."

Just my thoughts.

Per

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 2:00 PM, Alyssa Smith <alyssa...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Karen Dugan]

Per, I think we are looking at this issue from the same side.  It just seems to be counterproductive to me.  However if Principal Gerrans is serious about that sort of contract, I would promote what Tim was suggesting.  I like the idea of the whole community committing to safe conduct no matter what mode of transportation they choose. (Thanks Tim for the great idea!)  Children who ride the bus (and their guardians) are required to sign a conduct agreement.  

I can find it reasonable on those grounds.  Thanks for your input everyone.  

Karen

On Sep 3, 2014, at 2:34 PM, Per Johnson <percjo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not trying to be adversarial and to stir up conflict where it's not needed, but I would be concerned about a principal asking students to sign a riding rules contract.  There may be some campus safety measures or school rules that need to be obeyed and to remind students about, but asking K-8 students to sign a contract seems a bit bizarre.  Maybe I'm alone on an island on this though.  It also seems like unnecessary paperwork that would deter from goals that the District claim to hold and at odds with encouraging participate in National Bike to School Day.  

In searching the SPS website, there is no mention of any student contracts that I can find.  I don't know Principal Gerrans from Adam, so I don't want to pass judgement on him, but in looking up more information on him it appears that he cut recess time at Magnolia when he was there (http://www2.kuow.org/program.php?id=27099).  He's not alone in this and perhaps there were very good reasons for this and it's no indication of his overall view of student exercise.  But, as he's a relatively new principal, there may be opportunity there to push Principal Gerrans into more actively encouraging bike-to-school groups and events. Especially given a reported (Seattle Bike Blog) 2013 memo from former Superintendent Banda "urging all staff to engage students and school communities about biking to school and organizing group rides to class."

Just my thoughts.

Per

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 2:00 PM, Alyssa Smith <alyssa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Never heard of contract. We had pretty full racks at Whittier. Didn't get a count. Will try at pick up. Formed impromptu bike train of 8.

Alyssa

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 1:38 PM, Karen Dugan <ka...@nixnux.org> wrote:

  

Salmon Bay had 43 bikes in the rack this am!  Not bad for this weather.

Quick question to the community:

I spoke with our new principal this morning regarding our up coming plans for our walk/bike committee.  He expressed concern about enforcing riding rules around our school and suggested that we may need students who plan to ride to school to sign a contract with the school.  I told him that I had never ever heard of such a contract, but he was quick to tell me that it was not uncommon.  Do your schools require students to sign a contract in order to ride to/store their bike at school?  Has anyone heard of this before?  It seems like a deterrent to me.

Karen

<image.jpeg>Salmon Bay Bike racks 9/3/14 first day of school!

On Sep 3, 2014, at 10:44 AM, Anne King <anne...@gmail.com> wrote:

Happy first day of school! Hope you're all off to a biking school year!

Any Hazel Wolf K8 parents on the list? If so, get in touch! Would love to get involved with bike to school efforts! (Only one other kid bike in the rack this morning). 

Anne King

anne...@gmail.com

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[Jen Cole]

I recently saw a "Safe Kid Zone" pledge from another state. The basic idea was a pledge that parents & guardians would sign at back-to-school or any time of year, promising to follow the rules of the road near school whether on bike, foot or in car. The very cool thing was that after signing, they'd get a Safe Kid Zone window cling for their cars to remind themselves and others -- why not a sticker for your bike, too? I definitely wouldn't advocate singling bikers out to sign a pledge, but also wouldn't fault the principal, who knows the value of communicating clear expectations. It's easily overlooked that drivers need that just as badly, and more.