Westside Elementary teacher seeks short road closures for in‑street bicycle safety lessons

Luke Robinson, a physical education teacher at Westside Elementary, asked the Powell City Council during public comment for a short series of road closures in May 2026 to teach elementary students how to ride safely on streets.

"My kindergarten through second graders have been learning how to ride a bike with Strider bikes. And now we're trying to push to kind of that next level and focus on bicycle safety," Robinson said. He told the council he has met with the police chief about the plan and that the proposed closures would affect about seven houses, most of which have alley access for emergency vehicles. Robinson said the closures would be limited in scope and intended to teach children on‑road safety skills such as riding on the right side, looking both directions and wearing helmets.

Council members asked a few clarifying questions and offered positive comments about the program’s benefits for getting children outside and improving safety skills. A council member stated, "It goes to council's pleasure on this" and another council member said, "I have a motion to approve the request." The meeting transcript excerpt does not include the roll call or recorded outcome for that motion in the provided text.

Robinson requested the closures for a couple of weeks in May 2026 and said he had included a map with the request; he said he discussed minimizing impacts on nearby houses with the police chief.