Can schools ban kids from walking/biking to school?

[legalskier]

Seventh-grader Adam Marino and his mother, Janette Kaddo Marino, are defying Saratoga Springs school policy by biking to Maple Avenue Middle School on Route 9. The biking debate started last spring, when school district officials told her that Adam was violating school rules by biking to class. Walking to the school also is not permitted. She challenged the policy and asked the school board to change it. The district charged a committee to review the rule, which was instituted in 1994. When the pair stuck with their plan, they were met by school administrators and a state trooper, who emphasized that biking was prohibited....

Here’s the full story:
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=847190

Has anyone here encountered this kind of situation?

 

[bvibert]

It's funny you bring this up, I've been thinking about the same thing recently. What power does the school have to restrict how the kids get to school? It's ridiculous if you ask me. What are they going to do, arrest the kid for being healthy?

 

[ctenidae]

What in the name of all that's good and holy is the rationale for this?

 

[Sky]

Errrahhhh.....isn't how the kids behave OUTSIDE of school a parents' issue?

Thanks but No thanks Big Brotha....I'll decide what's best for my kids.

 

[Glenn]

What's the reason the school doesn't allow people to bike or walk to school? That just baffles me.

I think it's lame that the school has a rule like that. With all the regulations they slap down these days, maybe it's time to move away from the public school model. Let people pick schools. Don't like the rules at one, go to another.

 

[gmcunni]

ridiculous

i assume child safety is at the root of this but come on, let's be real here.

 

[Warp Daddy]

It seems that this situation is overkill founded on the best of intentions . But as any seer will tell ya : "The Road to Perdition is paved with the Best of Intentions "

Saratoga is pretty upscale and i'm sure there is an element there that wants to CONTROL all environments what with sex offenders living in our midst . However imo this policy infringes on parental responsibility and is " in loco the school district acting "in loc parentis " in the extreme

 

[tcharron]

I'm not sure how they'd have a bats chance in hell of enforcing this. Are they going to arrest him for using a bike? :-D

 

[Glenn]

with sex offenders living in our midst .

Here's an idea. How about we punish the criminals instead of the kids? Sex offender get their wieners cut off before they get out of jail. Problem solved!

 

[Warp Daddy]

good luck on that score i led a stateide effort of over 800 who testified for over 6 months regarding the ineffectiveness of Civil Confinement as oppsed to putting them ( sociopathiic monsters) in prisons for the criminally insane at 35K/yr as opposed to 250k/yr .

This group comprised of a multiplicity of professionals across the medical , psychiatric and other professions FAILED . The state chose the most expensive , and ineffective program and is now facving exactly what they were told would happen -- the program breaks the bank and often results in LAWSUITS by the SEX Offenders bcuz the therapy fails to work and chemical catration ( Deprovera ) ONLY INCREASES their RAGE -------------------What a mess has been created

I like your idea BUT it ain't gonna happen the pols don't have the balls to do the right thing -- just sayin

 

[Trekchick]

**Side note:
when I first saw this thread at the top of the forum it looked like this.

Can schools ban kids from....
bvibert


My first thought was,.....What did Brian do now!?

Thought that should make you chuckle.

 

[ctenidae]

**Side note:
when I first saw this thread at the top of the forum it looked like this.

Can schools ban kids from....
bvibert


My first thought was,.....What did Brian do now!?

Thought that should make you chuckle.

My first thought would be "Boy, I hope so"

 

[severine]

The elementary school closest to us has one of these bans: all students must be bussed or driven. My understanding is this is a liability issue--that schools don't want to be held responsible if something happens to your child because they were walking/biking to school. And I can sort of see that point. But it does seem like overkill. As a child, I remember walking to Kindergarten by myself, including having to cross 2 streets (one had a crossing guard) and when they closed my school, the next one required anyone less than 1 mile away to walk--we were borderline as one street further over or up in the grid were bussed. This later changed, but that's what it was initially. Middle school was 0.5 to 0.66 mile away and I also had to walk.

I understand the intentions and that the world is a different place but kids seem to be too sheltered these days.

 

[drjeff]

The way the youth of this country are going these days many of them will be too fat for it to be safe for them to walk/bike to schOol before long!

 

[Warp Daddy]

True dat --i went to a Catholic school 3 miles away we walked in good weather or biked once we were in 3-4th grade

 

[bvibert]

The elementary school closest to us has one of these bans: all students must be bussed or driven. My understanding is this is a liability issue--that schools don't want to be held responsible if something happens to your child because they were walking/biking to school.

As long as the school offers transportation for the student I don't see how they could be held responsible if parents decide to let their kids walk or ride their bike. It's one thing to recommend that kids don't walk or ride bikes to school and offer alternatives, but it's another all together to tell them that they CAN'T and then call the cops when they don't listen.

 

[ctenidae]

I understand the intentions and that the world is a different place but kids seem to be too sheltered these days.

I think the thing that's different in the world is that kids are too sheltered.

 

[Johnskiismore]

Unbelievable, a student CAN'T walk to school? It's the parents responsibility of how their children get there, whether it is walking, biking, (with or without them), driving or bringing them to the bus stop.

I too think that many kids are sheltered.

Just wondering, what kind of town did news story come from? Rich town? Poor town, in between? Of course there are dangers facing children all over the country everyday, but in this area is it REALLY that bad or is it borderlining paranoia?

 

[Paul]

Our schools have that in effect as well.

Asinine.

 

[aveski2000]

When I was in elementary school (early '60's) we walked to school and went home for lunch.