PS 15 is a recipient of a 3-year grant from Cycle Kids, an organization that donates bikes to schools to help kids learn how to ride.
There are only a handful of schools in New York City that received grants. Cycle Kids donated 10 bikes as well as helmets.
Joshua Fox and Ms. Jimenez will be implementing the bike instruction program for the fourth and fifth graders. They teach physical education classes together.
“It is a great opportunity for students who do not own a bike and have never ridden,” Fox said. “For 10 weeks, they will be practicing.”
Cycle Kids gave the school lesson plans for the instruction and how to teach it. The instruction begins after a bike building event in the schoolyard. An instruction booklet taught how to put the pedals, the handlebars and the seats on the bikes.
The bike build event took place on April 25. There were 10 groups with about 10-12 kids per group assembling the bikes.
The popular Waffles and Dinges food truck provided a dessert with a chocolate or caramel topping for each kid to enjoy afterwards.
When the bike instruction begins, there will be two kids assigned per bike.
“Right now we are working on a hockey unit,” Fox said. “Our next unit is volleyball. Instead of having two PE classes a week inside, the other day will be a bike riding day.”
The experienced bike riders will take on a leadership role and support their classmates who need it.
“I think it is a memory that will last them for their lifetime,” Fox said. “A lot of my kids do not know how to ride a bike so not only will it be their first time, but they will learn how to ride, so they will be able to ride for the rest of their life.”
Dr. Hassan Tetteh is the donor who chose two schools in Brooklyn for Cycle Kids and PS 15 is one of them because of Awilda Montes’s recommendation. He ran the Boston Marathon in October to raise funds for Cycle Kids.
Montes went up to Boston in October to cheer for Tetteh and met Julie Idlet, who is the founder and CEO of Cycle Kids. Montes wanted the program at PS 15 since she grew up here and knew that the community is still underserved.
Montes spoke about former PS 15 Principal Patrick Daly who was shot in crossfire.
“That was a traumatic moment in my childhood growing up,” Montes said. “Patrick Daly was a nice guy with a warm demeanor. All my cousins went here, and one now works here.”
Idlet believes that every school should have a bike program.
Another story of a positive outcome is that it has reduced bullying. This program can lead peers to interact in a beneficial way as experienced bikers will help the less experienced ones.
They have about 4,000 kids a year in programs and have reached 40,000 kids since starting. CYCLE Kids is active in 11 states, in 2019 they launched a line of bikes and helmets. Their goal is to be active in communities in all 50 states.
