Blake Miller, left and Trentyn Greening, right, stick their arms out to signal their left turn during a bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Blake Miller, left and Trentyn Greening, right, stick their arms out to signal their left turn during a bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Darrington PE teacher seeks donations for bike education

Gavin Gladsjo is looking for $6,000 in donations for bike, helmets and lessons for kindergarten through fifth grade.

Penny Ortiz brought her bright pink helmet, with bumps mimicking cat ears, for physical education recently at Darrington Elementary School.

It had been several months since the fifth grade students last spent their physical education class biking until that week in early May.

Bike education had started in the fall, but wildfire smoke pushed them indoors for safety lessons in the gym and classroom. Then winter precluded further riding outside.

On a recent weekday morning, Gavin Gladsjo, one of the small district’s PE teachers, rounded up Kim Wiersma’s 20 or so students for a lesson to practice road safety. Gladsjo unloaded the black-and-orange Specialized city bikes from a trailer just outside the ballfields, each with a taped number so students remember which one fits them best, and had the class run through their ABCs: checking air pressure, brakes and chains.

Students whose rides were ready, rolled through the grass, sometimes narrowly avoiding a slow-speed crash with yells of “Watch out!”

“It’s that first piece of independence that a child gets as they’re growing up, and a lot of kids are missing that now,” Gladsjo said.

A student’s shadow is cast on the ground as they ride their bike during a bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

A student’s shadow is cast on the ground as they ride their bike during a bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

The bikes, which fit the 10- and 11-year-olds, aren’t suitable for younger students. Gladsjo hopes to fix that with a fundraiser to buy 24 balance bikes that could adapt to students as they grow and being to use pedals.

The goal is to get $6,000 in donations by next year. For comparison, his annual classroom budget is $250 across all five classes between kindergarten and 12th grade.

Before the pandemic, an estimated 1 million fewer U.S. children regularly biked between 2014 and 2018, according to an industry report cited by The Washington Post.

When the pandemic gripped the country and other forms of entertainment and recreation were restricted, people flocked to biking.

Alison Dewey, education director of The League of American Bicyclists, said biking is a healthy physical activity that also gives children “freedom they deserve.”

“Biking is such a fundamental, easy way of getting places and exploring new areas, even just within your own community,” Dewey said. “It can take you far.”

But fewer children bike to school and in general than prior generations, she said.

Students line up the bikes to check tire air, breaks and chain before starting bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Students line up the bikes to check tire air, breaks and chain before starting bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

School programs can help bolster that activity, which students can carry skills from forever.

All Kids Bike, the fundraising program Gladsjo is working with, started in 2018 as part of the South Dakota-based Strider Education Foundation created by bike company Strider. Since then, it has put an average of 24 bikes in over 950 schools, foundation school logistics specialist Bethany Carbajal said.

The fundraisers come with the balance bikes, pedal conversion kits, a teacher instructor bike and an eight-lesson curriculum available online.

Teaching students how to bike as early as kindergarten leads to greater likelihood of them riding through their life, Carbajal said.

“We found that by teaching students at that beginning level, kindergartners, they’re very much open and willing to learn as a group,” she said.

More schools are offering bike education as part of physical education, Dewey said. It’s part of the curriculum for second graders in the Washington, D.C. public school system, which she considered a role model for bike education.

Students ride around on their bikes before the start of bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Students ride around on their bikes before the start of bike safety class at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

From there, the League hopes children consider biking for more kinds of trips as they age.

“We want to see them equipped with that knowledge of what it means to ride safely and just knowing how to ride a bike,” Dewey said.

Ortiz, one of the Darrington fifth grade students, has her own bike but doesn’t use it to get to school. Gladsjo said he’s seen maybe six bikes regularly at the school’s rack.

But he knows children bike around town, and they’re likely to bike in other areas with busier roads and trails. That’s why he wants to ensure they know how to ride safely and signal properly.

A 2014 study found students rarely biked or walked to school at most elementary, middle and high schools, largely because of the distance and safety concerns.

Programs like the state’s Safe Routes to School can help governments build bike lanes and sidewalks, as well as other pedestrian safety near schools. Those investments are equally important to education, Dewey said.

A student rides down a road during a bike safety exercise at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

A student rides down a road during a bike safety exercise at Darrington Elementary School on Friday, May 12, 2023 in Darrington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

“Parents have to feel safe themselves riding in their community to even think about sending their kids out to ride a bike,” she said. “We so often just prioritize cars, and that’s not a very fun place to be when you’re on a bike.”

For Darrington’s kindergartners, the first step toward bike safety could mean balance lessons on donated bikes and wearing donated helmets next year.

Have a question? Call 425-339-3037 or email streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your first and last name and city of residence.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Want coffee? Drink some with the Marysville mayor.

A casual question-and-answer session between mayor and constituents is planned for March 24.

Judge sentences man for role in human smuggling ring

Jesus Ortiz-Plata was arrested in Everett in May 2024. A U.S. District Court judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

Bill Wood, right, Donnie Griffin, center right, and Steve Hatzenbeler, left, listen and talk with South County Fire Chief Bob Eastman, center left, during an Edmonds Civic Roundtable event to discuss the RFA annexation on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds community discusses annexation into the regional fire authority

About 100 residents attended the Edmonds Civic Roundtable discussion in preparation for the April special election.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

Timothy Evans, a volunteer at the east Everett cold weather shelter, with his dog Hammer on Monday, Feb. 10 in Everett, Washington. (Will Geschke / The Herald)
Temporary shelter opens in Everett during unusually cold weather

The shelter will open nightly until Feb. 14. Help is needed at the new location, as well as six others across the county.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens schools bond leading early; Arlington voters reject latest levy attempt

A $314 million bond looks to pass while Arlington’s attempts to build a new Post Middle School again appear to take a step back.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.