By Dakota Antelman — Dakota@concordbridge.org
It’s not every day that schoolkids on bikes get an honorary police escort.
But Concord students enjoyed that special treatment as part of a “bike train” through local neighborhoods as Willard Elementary School celebrated its Bike to School Day on October 16.
“It’s always a great day to help out at the Willard School and all the schools,” said Concord Police Officer Ron Holsinger. “It’s fun for the kids, fun for me, fun for the parents.”
After piling their bikes around school bike racks, many students walked into their classrooms with smiles.
“People just really like it,” said Concord Transportation Advisory Committee member Phil Posner. “Everybody has fun.”
Posner helped organize the event — the last in a series of Bike to School days at Concord schools this fall.
“[It was] really, really good,” said 7-year-old Lukas Ziewacz after arriving with his parents and sister.
Motivational merch
Participating students could pick up souvenir stickers and bookmarks from a Willard Parent Teacher Group booth.
“The idea is to encourage kids to walk and bike, which has a number of big-picture policy objectives,” Posner said.
Bike to School days in Concord and beyond also encourage communities to create and maintain safe pathways for students to get to and from their schools on their own steam.
At the state level, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation supports communities’ efforts and administers federal grant funding through its Safe Routes to School Program.
“It all is a big picture, but it is also an on-the-ground, grassroots kind of thing,” Posner said.
Keeping kids safe
The special days in Concord grew out of the Covid-19 pandemic, when officials urged students to ride bikes or walk to school to enable social distancing, Posner said.
In May, state and local officials participated in a “walk assessment” around Thoreau Elementary School that identified an array of potential safety improvements.
Posner said a state Safe Routes to School Program coordinator was on hand last week to meet with school leaders about needs near Willard.
While officials eye longer-term improvements, people riding in the event said the positives were immediate.
“It motivates them to get out and bike in the morning,” said Tim Kiszely after riding with his children. “Mornings like this, where it’s sometimes cold, they would not do this. Now they’re motivated to do this and get the exercise in.”
