Kids get bikes and closed street for practice

Fourth and fifth-graders at Broad View Elementary School are getting an early lesson in road safety, with a new $20,700 grant for P.E. classes. The Bicycle Alliance of Washington grant provided 33 bikes for the Oak Harbor school district.

May 12, 2009 6:31 pm
Fourth and fifth-graders in Jeff Pryor’s P.E. class practiced a bike safety course last Thursday along Fairhaven Drive. The students came to a complete stop and practiced hand signalling before turning right.
Fourth and fifth-graders in Jeff Pryor’s P.E. class practiced a bike safety course last Thursday along Fairhaven Drive. The students came to a complete stop and practiced hand signalling before turning right.

Fourth and fifth-graders at Broad View Elementary School are getting an early lesson in road safety, with a new $20,700 grant for P.E. classes.

The Bicycle Alliance of Washington grant provided 33 bikes for the Oak Harbor school district.

For two weeks, the city allowed the elementary school to close off the street between the intersections of Fourth and Sixth Avenue and Fairhaven Drive for a safety course.

“It’s great that the city and neighbors let us close down the street. The kids wouldn’t have known the reality of the street if we had practiced in a parking lot,” P.E. teacher Jeff Pryor said.

Part of the class teaches students to ride with traffic, use proper hand signals and scan over their shoulder.

Makeshift stop signs were placed along a bike course outlined in chalk, and students came to a full stop and signaled before they could continue.

“These kids are really gaining a head start on driver’s ed,” Pryor said.

Assistant superintendent of schools, Lance Gibbon said the grant is actually part of a larger pilot program for road safety education. Oak Harbor was one of three districts selected by the state legislature to receive training in safe walking, bicycling and transit use behavior.

The grant also provided two hours of teacher training for elementary school P.E. teachers.

The bicycles will be equally rotated between Broad View, Crescent Harbor, Hillcrest and Olympic View elementary schools, between the fall and spring.

“We’re hoping to build on this next year too. We have money set aside as part of the Carol White Pep grant to purchase another set of bikes. That way, two schools can run the program at the same time,” Gibbon said.

Broad View Principal Joyce Swanson applied for the grant, with the help of Whitney Webber from Island County Public Health.

The section of Fairhaven Drive was closed off for one to two hours each day, and parent volunteers monitored the area.

The students wore bright, orange helmets for additional safety.

“When we started we had about four students who didn’t know how to ride a bike. We’ve seen a lot of improvement,” Pryor said. “I’m really appreciative that this helps to keep these kids safe.”