Most students in Orange County Public Schools likely will be forbidden from riding electric bikes and scooters onto campus starting next month, as officials move toward a wide-ranging ban on the vehicles.
The Orange County School Board agreed to the new restrictions Tuesday, though it must officially vote on them July 28. If the board agrees then, the ban would kick in when classes start Aug. 11, allowing the vehicles only on high school campuses and only for students who are licensed drivers.
OCPS, like cities and counties around Central Florida, wants to regulate the increasingly popular e-bikes and e-scooters as accidents and injuries spike. This past school year, one student was seriously injured and another was killed while such vehicles off campus.
About 42% of OCPS middle school students, 32% of high school students and 26% of elementary school students use an e-bike or e-scooter to get to and from school, according to survey of families from last school year. . That means tens of thousands of the district’s about 178,000 students have been riding the so-called micromobility devices onto campuses.
Superintendent Maria Vazquez said students are often not doing so safely.
“They’re driving and riding in major thoroughfares. They’re weaving in and out, and we already had one death,” Vazquez said.
In May, Orange County Commissioners, during a session on electric vehicle safety, watched a video of students leaving Windermere High School on e-bikes and scooters, with the teenagers flooding into a street filled with cars. Officials said some students dodged traffic and drove at dangerously high speeds, often failing to wear helmets.
Vazquez said she’s heard broad support for a campus ban on e-bikes and scooters from parents.
Maria Salamanca, the board member who represents the south Orange area where a student died on an e-scooter this year, agreed, saying her constituents support new restrictions.
“We’re not taking away kids’ ability to have fun after school or summer or ride their bikes. They can still own e-bikes, they can still own scooters, they can do whatever they want with their time,” she said.
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The board was unanimous in favor of voting on the new policy next week. Board member Angie Gallo, however, was hesitant to support the ban but ultimately agreed. While some students don’t follow the rules of the road, she said, many others do and rely on the devices to get to and from school.
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“I just in my heart don’t think the ban solves the problem,” she said.
Chair Teresa Jacobs said the ban might not solve all the problems with children and electric bikes and scooters — but it could still save students’ lives.
“Taking kids off the road, especially during rush hour in the morning, will save lives or reduce harm to our kids, and I think that that is worthwhile,” she said.
The district’s new guidelines for e-bikes and e-scooters would also ban students from charging them on campus and would prohibit the use of “Class 3” vehicles, which can travel upwards of 30 mph, at school.
If the board votes yes next week, Vazquez said the district would launch an awareness campaign to inform parents of the change in rules, as it did in 2023 when the district banned cell phones during the school day.
If students ride e-bikes and e-scooters to campus during the first week of school, staff will call their parents to inform them of the change, she added. If a student continues to bring their e-bike to school without permission, they could be subject to disciplinary action, according to the proposed policy.
For similar safety reasons, county commissioners are considering mandating helmets for riders 16 and younger and requiring riders to slow down when approaching pedestrians. The county could also allow sheriff’s deputies to impound the vehicles of offenders. Commissioners also have said they want their new rules in place before the new school year starts.
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