Trustees press for e-bike and scooter policy after safety incidents; staff point to Safe Routes and enforcement

Trustees discussed e-bike and e-scooter safety at the Oct. 16 board meeting after one trustee described multiple close calls involving students riding battery-assisted bikes and scooters to school, and a hazardous bus drop-off incident without a stop-arm or staff oversight.

The board member who raised the issue said he had recorded three near-miss incidents in two months and urged an immediate policy limiting e-bikes and scooters at middle-school campuses; he recommended allowing e-bikes only at high school for riders 16 and older with helmets. He described one hazardous ride through crosswalks near Safeway and another incident where a school bus stopped on Old Redwood Highway to discharge a student where there was no sidewalk and no stop arm engagement, creating a dangerous crossing for the child.

District staff said they had reviewed relevant policies and were engaging with the town’s Safe Routes to School program and Windsor Police. The assistant superintendent noted that the Safe Routes organization holds public meetings and the district plans to establish a dedicated presence at those meetings to coordinate enforcement, education, and policy recommendations. “Ultimately, yes, we can ban them from the schools and they could park them at the park. And so really it is about enforcement from all of the adults that supervise these children, so that would be Windsor PD, Windsor Unified School District Public Safety, all of them together,” a staff member said.

Board members discussed practical steps the district could take: updated parent communications explaining age and helmet requirements; consider reinstating on-campus bike-permit systems that required helmets, locks and a safety demonstration; and pursue enforcement through the town and police. A district staff member said the bus incident had been investigated: “Parents were brought in, student, bus driver changes were made,” and staff invited trustees to discuss details offline.

Trustees directed staff to place e-bike/scooter rules on a future subcommittee agenda and to coordinate with Safe Routes to School and Windsor Police on enforcement and parent outreach. No formal policy change was adopted at the meeting; trustees asked for options to review at a subsequent meeting.