{"id":332359,"date":"2026-07-07T21:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332359\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T21:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:57:07","slug":"orange-county-schools-could-put-campus-e-bikes-e-scooters-ban-in-place-by-new-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/332359\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County schools could put campus e-bikes, e-scooters ban in place by new school year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Orange County Public Schools leaders are considering whether to ban e-bikes and electric scooters on school campuses following concerns about student safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The possibility of a districtwide ban was discussed Tuesday during a school board workshop, where members reviewed recommendations for regulating the devices ahead of the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Some board members said they would support removing e-bikes and e-scooters from school property entirely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cI would stand for banning all of them,\u201d Orange County School Board Member Vicki-Elaine Felder said during the discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">[WATCH: Orange School Board set to discuss proposed rules on e-bikes, e-scooters]<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Board Member Melissa Byrd also said she would support a complete ban.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cI would be totally OK with doing a full ban,\u201d Byrd said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Superintendent Maria Vazquez said the district has seen serious safety concerns involving these devices, including a fatal incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cWe had one student that tragically died as a result of an accident involving a scooter and another who was seriously injured,\u201d Vazquez said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The district is considering several recommendations, including prohibiting modified e-bikes and Class 3 e-bikes, which can reach higher speeds than traditional bicycles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">During the workshop, board members questioned how schools would determine what types of devices students are bringing onto campuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cThe challenge with all these devices is you can\u2019t see what the watts [are],\u201d one board member said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Other recommendations include creating designated storage areas, requiring device registration and permits, tracking e-bike and scooter-related incidents, and developing an informational video for students and families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The district is also considering a policy that would prevent students from charging e-bikes and scooters on school property due to fire safety concerns involving batteries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">District 3 School Board Member Alicia Farrant said the discussion is not about preventing people from using e-bikes and scooters altogether.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019re not saying they\u2019re bad or you can\u2019t use them. That\u2019s what you want to do on your own time,\u201d Farrant said. \u201cBut as far as coming onto school property, there have been too many injuries for us to just sit back and ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Current school expectations already require students using bicycles on campus to follow safety rules, including parking in designated areas and walking bikes once they enter school grounds. Florida law also requires riders under 16 to wear helmets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">District leaders say the goal of the recommendations is to create clearer, districtwide expectations as electric transportation becomes more common among students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The discussion did not result in a final decision. The board chair is expected to bring the recommendations forward at a future school board meeting, with the goal of putting a plan in place before the new school year begins.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 bTVksG\">Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Orange County Public Schools leaders are considering whether to ban e-bikes and electric scooters&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1171,66342,113,1335,15305,139,141,140,16572,15849],"class_list":["post-332359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-e-bikes","tag-e-scooters","tag-education","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-public-schools","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-public-schools","tag-school-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}