Every Child Deserves a Safe Trip to School

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This week I delivered new bikes and helmets to students at Ewing Elementary. Watching those kids try on their helmets and check out their bikes was one of the best parts of my week. I also spent time with Ewing staff talking about Safe Routes to School and Measure S, which will be on our ballot this November.

I care about this work because every morning, thousands of our students walk, bike, scoot, or skate to school. They and their families should be able to count on getting there and back home safely. Too often in Fresno, that hasn’t happened.

The losses we can’t accept

Over the past year, our community has been hurt again and again by crashes involving students. A 15-year-old McLane High School student was hit and killed by a car while riding his bike in central Fresno last fall. Weeks later, a 12-year-old girl was hit by an SUV while riding her bike to school near Olive and Millbrook. A tire went over her after she was struck, and good Samaritans used a jack to lift the vehicle and free her. In February, a 16-year-old Justin Garza High School student was struck and killed by a pickup truck while crossing Highway 99. And this summer, a Sunnyside High student was killed while riding an e-scooter to football practice, the day before his fifteenth birthday.

These aren’t isolated tragedies. Fresno Unified started its own Safe Routes to School effort because of an uptick in incidents where students, and even parents, were being hit on their way to school. In one year alone, the district recorded 17 incidents where students were hit, including one fatality.

We have lost too many students, and too many have been injured. I don’t want any more.

Why Safe Routes to School matters

Safe Routes to School isn’t new to me. In spring 2018, Cultiva La Salud and partners began participating in the Safe Routes to School Launch Program, designed to help start strong and sustainable Safe Routes to School programs in California communities. Since then, I’ve seen what makes the biggest difference: safer crossings, better sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and students who know how to ride and walk safely.

Education and equipment matter. That’s why I’m handing out helmets and teaching safety skills. But no helmet can make up for a dangerous intersection or a missing sidewalk. Our kids need safer streets, and that takes real investment in infrastructure.

What Measure S could mean for our schools

Measure S is the countywide transportation measure on the November 3 ballot. It is a half-cent sales tax designed to succeed Measure C, which has been on the books since 1986 and expires June 30, 2027.

For our students, the most important part is this: Measure S will invest in at least 150 Safe Routes to Schools projects designed to improve walkability, safety and connectivity for students and reduce serious injuries and fatalities.

That’s a real opportunity to bring safety improvements directly to the streets around our school sites, where our kids need them most.

What’s next

I’m not slowing down. In the coming weeks I’ll deliver more bikes, helmets, skateboards, and skates to schools across the McLane region, and I’ll keep advocating for Safe Routes to School everywhere I go.

My team is also organizing a Bike and Pedestrian Rodeo for our students. It’ll be a fun, hands-on way for kids to practice riding, crossing streets, and staying visible and alert. Stay tuned for the date and location. I’d love to see you and your family there.

Every child in Fresno deserves to get to school safely and come home safely. Let’s build that together.