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Happy June walkers and rollers! There is a lot to celebrate here at Cupertino Safe Routes to School as we approach the final weeks of the school year and prepare for summer. Read below for a recap of our spring events and announcements for summer programming. As a reminder, our Safe Routes to School Working Group meetings take a pause for summer break and will resume on Wednesday, August 19!
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E-Bikes Community Meeting Recap
Last month we hosted our first community meeting focused on E-Bikes & Youth Safety at Community Hall and invited expert presenters and panelists to share their knowledge about e-bikes and e-motos and share their agency’s role in supporting youth and families to stay safe and informed. Our presenters included Bob Mittelstedt, founder of EBIKE ACCESS, and Gwen Froh of Marin Safe Routes to School. Our panelists included Alisa Campbell of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and Sargeant Alan Slough and Deputy Michael Renteria of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, as well as our Cupertino Safe Routes to School Coordinators. All of our presenters and panelists shared valuable knowledge about the rise of e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-motos among youth and on school campuses, along with tips for how to navigate the situation. A key take-away from the meeting was that this is indeed a complex and fast-evolving issue involving many different groups, and it is important as a parent, student, and citizen to keep yourself informed. This meeting was recorded and can be found online here. We highly encourage you to watch!
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National Bike Safety Month Recap
Along with our E-Bikes Community Meeting, Cupertino celebrated National Bike Safety Month with many wonderful events last month!
Walk n' Roll Days- Collectively we had eight different schools host Walk n Roll Day events throughout May, including some extra fun high school events. Cupertino and Monta Vista High Schools hosted Don’t Drive for Donuts Days and Homestead High School hosted a Bike Day, which included bike-themed student activities throughout the school day and a bike repair clinic after school.
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Bike Rack Decorating Contest- Three of our Cupertino schools (Lincoln, Sedgwick, and Homestead) entered the Countywide Bike Rack Decorating Contest and creatively spruced up their school bike racks in style! All three entries were impressive, and we are excited to announce that our very own Homestead High School won (pictured here)! Great job to all of our participants.
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Bike to Work Day- Cupertino also celebrated Bike To Work Day on May 14! The Bicycle Pedestrian Commission hosted an energizer station on the corner of McClellan Road and Stelling Road, offering water, snacks, and enthusiasm to bikers riding past on their way to work and wherever. Our Mayor Kitty Moore also joined the festivities!
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Lincoln Elementary Sticker Design Contest- A Hit!
We’d like to send an extra shoutout to Lincoln Elementary for not only hosting a Walk n Roll Day last month, but for hosting Walk n Roll Days regularly. Lincoln has a wonderfully supportive PTSA and principal who have joined together with our Safe Routes team this year to host bi-monthly Walk n Roll Days, rewarding students who participate with stickers. To bring a little extra excitement to these events, they held a sticker design contest for their students with the invitation to create art encouraging active transportation to school and including their school mascot, Snowy the Leopard. This contest was a huge hit. Over 100 Lincoln students participated and shared their art. Lincoln’s panel of judges chose a winning design from each grade level and gave out stickers of those designs at their May 26th Walk n Roll to School Day. Additionally, Councilmember Fruen, a Lincoln Elementary Alum, showed up to support the event and handout stickers.
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Middle School Bike Skills- Coming This Summer
It’s almost Summer and we are again offering our Middle School Bike Skills (MSBS) Classes! This year, we will offer three different class options, with our foundations course being MSBS 101.
MSBS 101 is our regular summer bike skills and safety training course designed for incoming middle and high school students who want to bike on their own or with friends to school (and really anywhere). In this class, students learn the rules of the road along with defensive biking techniques, practice riding on the blacktop, and then put it all together with a ride on local streets. This is an incredibly supportive course for all cyclists, especially ones new to riding on streets. It’s the perfect class for rising 6th grade students preparing to ride to and from their new schools
We will also offer a new stand-alone basic bike maintenance and repair class (MSBS 103) along with an e-bike skills and safety class (MSBS 102). Please note that MSBS 101 is a mandatory pre-requisite for MSBS 102.
Check out more information about all these classes and sign up by visiting Cupertino.gov/saferoutes/msbs. Our first class is coming up on June 13!
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Plant a Seed, Read!
"Plant a Seed, Read” and grow with the library this summer! Sprout new ideas by picking up a great book, learn, and have fun at library events. The Cupertino Library’s program this year offers something for everyone, including adults, teens, and children. All are invited to join June 1 through July 31. It’s free and fun for all ages! Learn more- https://sccld.org/summer/
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June Mindful Driving Tip
During drop off and pick up times, regular streets suddenly become a Mad Max landscape of cars, bikes, and pedestrians all in a rush around the school. It’s all for only 20-30 minutes, so it doesn’t make sense to install stop signs or traffic lights that will govern what is normally light traffic for the other 23-1/2 hours of the day. But something has to keep the chaos under control! Which is where our local heroes, the Crossing Guards, come in. They make sure the kids cross the street at the crosswalk, batch the kids in big groups instead of a trickle so car traffic can keep moving, make sure kids walk their bikes in the crosswalks instead of weaving in and out of the pedestrians … in short, they keep us all safe. Your challenge for June, before leaving for summer vacation, is to thank your crossing guards.
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Join us for SR2S Working Group Meetings
Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Working Group meetings are Hybrid held on the second Wednesday of most months in Conference Room C at Cupertino City Hall and on Zoom. If there's a topic you'd like the Working Group to discuss, email us! saferoutes@cupertino.gov
Visit the link below to register, access agendas, and view the complete list of dates for this school year’s Working Group meetings. We hope to see you at our next meeting!
Working Group Meetings
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Important Upcoming Dates
Agendas and information will be posted 72 hours before each meeting at the links below.
- Thursday, June 4
Last day of school for FUHSD
- Friday, June 5
Last day of school for CUSD
- Saturday, June 13
MSBS 102 and 103
- Saturday, June 27
MSBS 101
- Wednesday, July 15, 7:00 p.m.
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission
Topic: TBD
- Friday, July 31
Last day of Summer Reading Program
- Saturday, August 8
MSBS 101
- Thursday, August 13
First day of school for CUSD
- Saturday, August 15
MSBS 101
- Monday, August 17
First day of school for FUHSD
- Wednesday, August 19, 4:00 p.m.
SR2S Working Group Meeting
Topic: TBD
- Wednesday, August 19, 7:00 p.m.
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission
Topic: TBD
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