Students learn bike and pedestrian rules of road through Edmonds School District ‘Let’s Go’ program

Led by physical education teacher Nicole Brekkas, fifth graders at Lynnwood’s Oak Heights Elementary provided a demonstration of the Let’s Go program’s curriculum to city leaders and local bike advocates Monday morning. First, students demonstrated their pre-ride skills, which included checking their brakes and the fit of their helmets. On a course set to replicate bike lanes, the fifth graders then practiced turning, hand signals, weaving and avoiding any possible objects in their path. 

Designed as an in-class bicycle and pedestrian safety program, the Let’s Go’s curriculum has been adapted since its creation to provide students with the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to safely navigate their area’s roads both on a bike and as future drivers. 

“This bike program is all about getting kids onto bikes and learning the safety of it,” said Brekkaa, the 2024 SHAPE Washington P.E. Teacher of the Year. “There’s so many kids who don’t have access to bikes anymore.”

The program was created in 2016 through a partnership between the School District and Cascade Bicycle Club. It operates in 21 elementary schools and four middle schools, serving nearly 9,000 students annually. District physical education teachers receive a five-lesson, elementary, in-class bike and pedestrian safety curriculum and an eight-lesson, middle school, in-class bike and pedestrian safety curriculum. Cascade maintains and delivers all bike fleets, helmets and curriculum materials. Additionally, Cascade provides in-class support and teacher training.

According to Jenni McCloughan, Edmonds School District K-12 Health, P.E. and SEL (Social Emotional Learning) lead, every District P.E. teacher is trained to teach the program, and each school receives one of three bike trailers for three weeks at a time. 

“I think it is a super important lesson to teach in schools and we need to teach all our kids how to ride,” McCloughan said. “One, for the climate. If we can get more kids riding instead of driving in cars, then eventually as adults that is great.It’s a lifetime exercise, you can do it from when you’re little until you’re really old and it’s super fun. It’s so good for their mental health.” 

Tom Parker, Cascade Bicycle Club’s Let’s Go program manager, said the in-school program is designed to increase pedestrian and bicycle awareness, with the goal of lowering traffic-related fatalities 

“Kids are more aware of pedestrian and bike safety on the roads, but also that information is getting back to their parents, to their families,” Parker said. “We’re seeing a lot more drivers aware of kids on bikes, kids walking, making sure they’re actually looking for people…so this is having not just an impact on our students but on our communities.” 

The Let’s Go program is offered at all Edmonds School District’s elementary and middle schools, with the overarching goal of reaching every third- through eighth-grade student in the District. 

Cascade Bicycle Club Education Director Stephen Rowley said the Let’s Go’s curriculum has been “dialed in” over time in the School District to have both a traffic- and pedestrian-safety focus.    

“Almost all these students are going to get a car and drive at some point, but they have the perspective of being one of the more vulnerable users of the road, of being a bicyclist, of being a pedestrian,” Rowley said. “They will have that when behind the wheel of a vehicle.” 

Brekkaa said the program does more than teach the fundamentals of bicycling. Learning to ride a bike gives students an extra level of independence — allowing them to safely travel between their neighborhoods and connect with their peers. 

One of those watching the students Monday morning was Edmonds resident Peter Hallson, a longtime member of both the Cascade Bicycle Club and North Sound Bicycle Advocates, a nonprofit representing bicycle riders in North King and South Snohomish counties. Hallson played a pivotal role in securing the original funding for the Let’s Go program, and he echoed Brekkaa’s belief, saying that teaching students to ride a bike “gives them freedom.” 

“We felt it was important to get kids the ability to ride a bike, and ride it safely, and know the rules of the road, and for mental health and physical [well]being,” Hallson said. 

Cascade Bicycle Club’s Rowley said the Let’s Go program is expanding across Washington state, with an estimated 80,000 students set to receive the curriculum during the 2025-26 academic year. Rowley said Cascade has also been piloting an adaptive bicycling addition to the program in partnership with Pacific Northwest-based nonprofit Outdoors For All. This partnership looks to follow a “no student left behind” mentality to ensure all students are able to access adaptive bicycling equipment as part of the Let’s Go curriculum.  

“I think it brings a sense of empowerment to be able to choose to ride a bike around your neighbor,” Rowley said. “We’re providing a baseline of safety education, so that if you are a parent you can trust your student to ride to school safely,” Rowley said. 

Learn more about the Let’s Go program here.