From Helmet To School Zone Safety

The term “helmet safety” typically conjures images of bicyclists or motorcyclists.  But when Fernando Alverez, the PE teacher at Peninsula Elementary School in Moses Lake, first was trained to promote helmet and bike safety by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington (BAW), he imagined unicyclists.

For the past 8 years, Peninsula Elementary has been home to an after school group of unicycling 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders under the tutelage of Alverez.  The team consists of up to thirty students, half of whom perform shows around the community in retirement homes, half-time shows, and parades.  “You’d be amazed at how good these kids are.  It’s not just a matter of riding around in circles,” says Alvarez.

Though he has found it too difficult logistically to fit bicycle practice into his classes, he incorporates the safety and verbal education pieces of the training every year.  Alvarez’s after school team knows not to get on their unicycle unless they are wearing a properly-fitted helmet.  Thanks to a grant from the BAW, 75 needy students, some of them unicyclists, received a free helmet.

Outside of the classroom, Alvarez is a strong proponent of safety. He has been a part of the Moses Lake Healthy Communities Project working to receive a Safe Routes to School (SRtS) grant from the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). After assessing the walk- and bikeability of the area around the school, the team has organized their grant application around the need for better school zone signage, flashing lights, and a way to cross Interstate-90.

The situation around Peninsula Elementary was too dangerous to ignore for a committed teacher like Alvarez.  “These are my kids; I don’t want to see one of them gone tomorrow just because I didn’t step up and do something about it,” he states adamantly.  “If the teachers didn’t do something about safety around the school, it wasn’t going to get done.”

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