" 3) 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 had assumed that the intent of this policy was to prohibit children under 10 from riding to school ALONE.  However, at least some schools in Madison interpret and implement this policy as a ban regardless of whether the student is accompanied by a parent.
     Several years ago when my 3rd grade daughter and I biked together to Randall School on a regular basis she was informed that she couldn't have her bike on school grounds and that she was breaking school rules.  Only after many tears, and after further discussion with the school did it become clear that we could get "special permission" for her to ride to the school.  I assumed that the school just didn't know that I was biking with her every day.  I was also a little irked because my daughter had been made to feel so bad about here bike riding activities.  It seemed that a more encouraging approach and a form simply informing the school that I would be biking with my daughter to school would have been more appropriate. In any case, we filled out the form and continued our daily bicycling, feeling only slightly less like criminals.
     A recent call to the main office of Franklin, Randall's sister school for K-2, confirmed that their policy is that kids can't bike to school until they are in fourth grade (and see excerpt below from school handbook).  When I inquired about a permission form so that a parent and child could bike together I was told there they didn't have a form and that there wasn't a place to park a bike anyway.
     Last week, I was informed that my second daughter, in second grade at Lapham, could not bike with me to school.   I wondered what right the school had to dictate how and where I rode bicycles with my daughter. But swallowing my pride, I asked the office for the form to get permission for my daughter to bike with me to school.  I was told that they knew of no such form and that I should call the District legal office.  I carefully explained that I was biking to school with my daughter but was told that District policy banned biking to school by kids less than 10 years old, regardless.  A call last week to the District legal office produced the same answer (a ban unless I could talk the principal into giving permission for my daughter and me to bike to school together) but when I questioned the legal authority of the District to say where and how I bike with my kids the staff person (June Wilson) admitted that the District's authority was probably limited to bicycles on school property.
     On monday of this week, I placed a follow up call to the district legal office to confirm the information that I had received on friday. The staff person who took my call (Clarence Sherrod) stated that of course the policy only applied to bicycles on school property.  He seemed surprised that anyone might interpret the policy as preventing parents from biking with their kids to the school.  He said that as long as we didn't step on school grounds with our bicycles, my daughter was not technically riding a bicycle to school.  I thought this was a bit of hair splitting but, oh well, we can just park my daughter's bicycle on the city terrace.  Maybe not a very satisfactory or particularly safe solution but as a bicycling family we have learned to work around institutional obstructions to bicycling.
     Despite the legal office's opinion that the District policy is very clear, I personally have come across some schools that seem to interpret the policy to mean that young kids cannot bike to school, period. (Following this letter are excerpts from the Franklin/Randall and Lapham school parent handbooks concerning biking to school and a recent notice that was sent home by Lapham school.)
     I ask you to clarify the policy so that other families are not intimidated out of biking together to school or else made to jump through hoops so as to prevent their kids from being labeled as rule breakers.
     My experience is not an isolated one.  I have talked with several parents that have had similar experiences with their schools and have either given up biking their kids to school or have had to be surreptitious about it.

     Because the District's policy, as currently written, has been interpreted in some cases in a very anti-bicycling way,  I ask that the Board clarify the policy.  Changes along the following lines would significantly clarify the policy:
insertion of "UNSUPERVISED" in line 3, a change of  "may" to "SHALL" in line 3(a), and changing the bicycle ban to a LIMIT on bicycles on school grounds in line 3(b) i.e.
"  3) A pupil under the age of ten shall not ride a bicycle to school UNSUPERVISED.
    a)The Principal  SHALL  make exception upon written request of a parent.
    b)The Principal may, LIMIT bicycles TO A RESTRICTED AREA ON school grounds.  "
 
I urge you to act quickly on this clarification of the policy.  What better time to commit to a clarification of this policy than during Bike to Work Week. Lets encourage our kids to develop positive transportation habits.  Lets encourage our kids to develop healthy athletic lifestyles.

Thank you,
John 

-----------Excerpts from school parent handbooks----------------------
Lapham:
BICYCLES
Board of Education Policy states that students under the age of ten shall not ride a bicycle to school.

Franklin/Randall:
BICYCLE PERMITS
4th and 5th grade students are permitted to ride bicycles to school. A bicycle permit must be obtained before a child may ride his/her bicycle to school.
Please note: Third grade students' parents may request special permission for a bicycle permit.

------------Recent notice sent home from Lapham----------------------
Please remember that no student should ride or bring a bike or scooter to school, with or without parent accompaniment.