I guess I should toot my own horn here.

Previously, the policy stated:
*
A pupil under the age of ten shall not ride a bicycle to school. *

*a.    The PRINCIPAL may make exception upon written request of a parent. *
* *

*b.    The PRINCIPAL may forbid bicycles on school grounds. *


I started in my position at MMSD in August 2012, and changing this policy
was one of the first things I started working on.

Surveys and conversations with parents and Principals at the school level
showed that there was widespread awareness of the policy, and most thought
it should be changed.  At the District level, most administrators were
unaware of the policy and/or not sure why it was there in the first place.
Most other school districts in Dane County don't have any language on
student bicycle use in their board policies at all.

I would have preferred eliminating the policy altogether from MMSD's
policies, but some of the administrators wanted Principals to have a policy
they could enforce if they saw very young children riding who were
obviously not ready to ride by themselves.

The process to change it was very slow, but at no point did I really
experience any resistance to changing it. In fact, when the Board of
Education operations committee approved the change (unanimously and without
discussion), they told me, "Thank you for what you are doing!" This blew my
supervisor's mind, because she was not used to getting that warm reception
from the BOE herself.

Sonia

-- 
Safe Routes to School Coordinator
Madison Metropolitan School District
608-663-5454
[email protected]
https://tnlweb.madison.k12.wi.us/saferoutes
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