WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Students in Williamson County who want to ride electric bikes, scooters or other electronically powered transportation devices to school will be required to complete a safety training course starting with the 2026-27 school year.
The new requirement applies to students in grades 3-12 and must be completed with a parent or guardian before bringing a device to campus. The hour-long class will be led by school teachers with help from school resource officers, covering traffic laws, rules of the road and the dangers of riding e-bikes at high speeds near traffic.
"We've been talking about e-bikes for about a year," Interim Superintendent Dr. Leigh Webb said.
Webb said the goal is to make sure students are prepared before they ever arrive at school on an electric device.
"What we're hoping to accomplish is — our students know the laws, the rules of the road, they understand their e-bike, what it's capable of, and the dangers associated with riding an e-bike at high speed close to traffic," Webb said.
The training is also designed to spark safety conversations at home. Webb said the district wants to get ahead of potential problems rather than respond to them after the fact.
"We want to be proactive and get on the front end of issues — that's what school people do. We look to educate people and not be on the response end when there are issues," Webb said.
After completing the training, students must register their transportation device with their school and display a school-issued identification tag, similar to vehicle parking permits used on high school campuses. Schools will keep registration records for each device, including the type of transportation, manufacturer and model.
The new requirements are part of the district's updated Student Transportation Policy, approved by the Williamson County School Board on June 15. Riding an e-bike, e-scooter or other electronic electronic transportation device to school is considered a privilege and may be revoked if students fail to follow safety expectations.
For Franklin parent Deirdre Kitchen, who homeschools and rides with her son, the balance between fun and safety is something she thinks about often.
"Being able to do that with my son and do it safely is really important to me, and to do it well. A lot of our neighborhoods, I see the kids without their helmets, in the middle of the street, tipping along, cutting cars off and not even aware of it," Kitchen said.
She said the experience is also something she and her son genuinely enjoy.
"We have bikes at home and that's part of the safety and what we enjoy at home, and the safety of that, but it's also really, really fun to zip around on a bike or a scooter and go fast," Kitchen said.
Campus-specific information, including how to sign up for the required course, will be shared by individual schools before the start of the 2026-27 school year. Families should watch for emails from their school with details on scheduling.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
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