Orange School Board Looking to Ban Electric Scooters and Bikes at Elementary and Middle Campuses
Talk of the proposed ban came this week as cities like Winter Park are attempting to finalize their own micromobility ordinances ahead of the start of the school year
July 9, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
Orange County Public Schools board members appear poised to ban electric bikes and scooters at elementary and middle schools while only allowing high schoolers with driver’s licenses to ride them.
The board met during a Tuesday workshop to discuss a proposed policy as cities like Winter Park are also crafting new rules aimed at stopping more crashes from happening. The school board did not take any action Tuesday but could vote on the final policy at a July 28 meeting ahead of the 2026-27 school year in August.
“If we can do something to make our community safer, I believe a ban on micromobility devices coming to and from school is a way to do that,” said Board Member Melissa Byrd.
Board Member Angie Gallo, who is running for chairwoman of the school board, called banning them at elementary school “an absolutely no-brainer” but was more hesitant about prohibiting high school students because she feared it might be government overreach.
“We’re banning something that their parents bought for them,” said Gallo, adding she needed more time to make her decision before she supported restrictions for teenagers.
Banning e-scooters and e-bikes for just elementary students but not middle school students could be a “hot mess” in the handful of K-8 schools across the district, added board Member Alicia Farrant who is also running for the board chairwoman role and supported only allowing high schoolers with driver’s licenses to ride them.
Outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill last month that some viewed as a first step in addressing the problem. The Legislature does not reconvene until March, so local governments and schools are moving ahead to set their own policies and ordinances without guidance from the state.
Winter Park city commissioners voiced support again at their own meeting this week for adopting their own ordinance before the start of the school year in August, though the proposal hasn’t been finalized yet.
Commissioner Craig Russell, who works at Winter Park High School, said he hopes Winter Park can help set a standard for the state with rules that enforce safety without leaving kids with traffic citations on their records. Winter Garden, in West Orange County, already has an ordinance in place that affects the West Orange Trail that runs through its downtown.
For 90 minutes, OCPS school board members debated what was the appropriate age to allow riding e-bikes and e-scooters. Some questioned who should take the first step to regulate the electric devices — the school district, local governments or the state?
“We can’t control the sidewalks or the roads leading up to the campus,” said Gallo, who supported the district’s push to educate students on road rules. “In my mind, this is a county and a city issue that they need to deal with and provide ordinances that we would follow along with and adhere to. But just us banning them, I don’t think that that makes kids more safe on the roads as they move around Orange County.”
Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents Winter Park schools, agreed that the district should lean on local governments to lead on policy decisions. However Vanos viewed the safety situation as too urgent not to act now.
“I’m also honestly just not willing to wait for it,” Vanos said.
In the wake of DeSantis vetoing the bill, Farrant said the district should take the lead.
“We can either point fingers or hope somebody else does it,” Farrant said. “We need to rise up as leaders and do what we can to do our part.”
“We still can only lead so far,” OCPS Board Chair Teresa Jacobs countered as she said she hoped the state would pass a law. “An electric vehicle ought to be regulated similarly to a car.”
OCPS’ proposed policy would also completely ban modified or Class 3 e-bikes that go faster than 28 miles an hour.
Charging the devices on campus would also not be allowed for safety and fire prevention.
The older students eligible to ride e-bikes and e-scooters would need to register with school administrators.
Superintendent Maria Vazquez warned it would be up to school staff to enforce the rules and oversee the permits.
“I’ve had a few conversations with some principals that see this is going to be a burden because they do not have the staff to follow through and monitor this the way it needs to be,” Vazquez said.
The district will also need to add better signs and more storage and parking for students to park their e-bikes and e-scooters as well as create a safety video.
“From an education standpoint, we are developing a comprehensive informational video for parents and students to improve awareness and micromobility safety, district expectations and responsible use of e-bikes and e-scooters,” said Joe Silvestris, the district’s senior director of the safety and emergency management department.
Some school board members were skeptical the district’s proposed policy could meaningfully solve the problem on campuses.
“Who is regulating it? Who is standing at the door ensuring that the kids riding up have the permit?” Farrant said. “When I’m going out and about, the kids are running through stop signs as if they own the road. … I don’t know that a little video is going to really fix the problem.”
OCPS’ action comes as school districts across the country and state are tackling the issue in different ways, Silvestris said.
Some districts have banned e-bikes and e-scooters completely while others prohibit the class of high-speed electric devices, he said. Schools that allow them require students to dismount on campus entrances and walk them to parking storage areas, he added.
“Schools are experiencing significant increase in student use of e-bikes, e-scooters, and other micromobility devices,” Silvestris said. “This rapid growth has contributed to a rise in injuries and near-miss incidents on and off our school campuses.”
Already the district drafted an incident reporting and data tracking process to better understand the scope of the problem at OCPS and established a working group with principals to share feedback and look at the challenges, Silvestris said.
Orange County and city of Orlando representatives attended Tuesday’s school workshop with Jacobs saying, “Our entire community has a stake in this.”
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I’d be all for banning class 3 e-bikes out right simply because of the risk they pose to pedestrians, I think they should also look at banning vehicles on campus period since they are significantly more dangerous.
“When I’m going out and about, the kids are running through stop signs as if they own the road. … I don’t know that a little video is going to really fix the problem.”
Hey Alicia, be honest: when was the last time you saw a car stop at a stop sign? Somewhere along the way the average jackass behind the wheel forgot what the word Stop means and decided it means “roll through and don’t even look at the pedestrians approaching the crosswalk”.