Dear Conroe ISD Families and Community Members,
If you’ve been around our neighborhoods or campuses during morning drop-off and afternoon dismissal during the school year, you’ve likely noticed the surge in electric bikes (e-bikes) and motorized scooters. Their rising popularity has brought several reports of safety concerns from school and community members.
Following a recent e-bike incident in the Grand Oaks area this summer, I wanted to let you know Conroe ISD has been investigating reported concerns and seeking possible solutions for several months in collaboration with The Woodlands Township. This has included meetings and collaborations as well as a survey of campus administrators to understand how e-bikes and scooters are impacting our schools. In the spirit of transparency and collaboration, we want to share those survey results with you today, alongside our proactive plan to keep our students safe.
What Our Campus Leaders Shared
Our survey collected responses from administrators across 26 different campuses, with a high concentration of feedback coming from the Grand Oaks, College Park, and The Woodlands high school feeder patterns. While nearly half of our leaders indicated no immediate issues on their campuses, a significant portion expressed that motorized vehicles are becoming a safety concern.
Key Survey Statistics
Level of Concern: 34% of campus administrators consider e-bikes and motorized scooters somewhat of a safety concern, and 16% consider them a big concern.
Enforcement Reality: 50% of campus leaders believe it would be highly difficult to enforce an outright ban on e-bikes or motorized bikes.
Accidents on Campus: 25% of surveyed campuses reported having already experienced an accident involving an e-bike or motorized scooter.
Campuses Reporting Recent Accidents:
Cox, Tough, Clark, Mitchell, Suchma, Buckalew, and Deretchin.
Understanding the Challenges
Our administrators provided valuable, real-world context regarding why managing these vehicles is a complex issue. Rather than jumping straight to restrictive bans, we want to address the root challenges they highlighted:
Deep Community Acceptance: Our community truly loves e-bikes! Many families rely on them as a primary mode of transportation. Outright bans could face significant resistance and might simply result in students chaining their bikes to adjacent, non-school property.
A Lack of Broad Regulation: Because there are limited state or county laws establishing age limits or licensing requirements for e-bikes, schools lack a broader legal framework to rely on for unilateral enforcement.
Supervision and Manpower: Monitoring bike racks and high-traffic arrival/dismissal zones requires additional staff hours that many campuses simply do not have.
Our Proactive Action Plan
To date, Conroe ISD has had no district-wide rules regarding this topic. We are changing that. We are currently working alongside the campus leaders who have first-hand experience with these challenges to build a comprehensive framework.
Moving forward, we are focusing on safety curriculum, parent awareness, and clear, practical and enforceable rules to be included in our district codes of conduct.
We Welcome Your Feedback!
We want to hear from you. Whether you are a parent of an e-bike rider, a pedestrian who utilizes our neighborhood pathways, or a concerned community member, your ideas and feedback are incredibly valuable to us as we shape these safety policies by sharing your thoughts on our district survey. Community Survey
Together, we can keep our community moving forward, safely.
Dave Vinson