Newport-Mesa Unified Pauses New E-Bike Rules After Resident Feedback

School board sends draft policy back for revisions after hearing concerns from parents and the public.

Mar. 14, 2026 at 12:37am

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The Newport-Mesa Unified School District in California has put a hold on new rules intended to regulate e-bike usage on school campuses after receiving significant feedback from parents and residents pointing out flaws in the proposed policy. The draft policy would have banned middle school students from riding e-bikes to school and prohibited even younger students from riding regular bicycles. However, the school board agreed with public comments that these restrictions went too far, and sent the policy back to the district's policy commission for further revisions.

Why it matters

E-bike usage and safety has become a growing concern for the Newport-Mesa Unified district, with statistics showing an incident involving the electric vehicles happening about once every five days on or around school campuses. This has led to numerous injuries and even the death of a 16-year-old student last September. The district is trying to balance promoting active transportation to school with ensuring student safety, but the initial policy proposal drew significant backlash from the community.

The details

The draft e-bike policy would have banned students in middle school and younger from riding e-bikes to school, and prohibited children below 3rd grade from riding regular bicycles to school as well. However, numerous parents criticized these restrictions, arguing that young children are typically riding with parents and not "terrorizing the streets." The board agreed that bicycles help promote physical fitness, social skills and independence for young students. While the majority still supported banning e-bikes for middle schoolers due to issues like bullying, the board wants to revisit the policy to potentially tie e-bike permission to academic performance and behavior, similar to sports participation.

  • Since 2003, an incident involving e-bikes has happened an average of once every five days on or around Newport-Mesa Unified campuses.
  • In September 2025, 16-year-old Jagger Boys died when his e-bike crashed off campus in Newport Beach.
  • The school board discussed the draft e-bike policy at their meeting on Tuesday, March 12, 2026.

The players

Newport-Mesa Unified

A school district in California that is working to address safety concerns around e-bike usage on its campuses.

Andrea McElroy

A member of the Newport-Mesa Unified school board.

Krista Weigand

A member of the Newport-Mesa Unified school board.

Michelle Feldman

A parent in the Newport-Mesa Unified district who criticized the proposed e-bike policy.

Ashley Anderson

A member of the Newport-Mesa Unified school board who expressed hesitation about banning e-bikes.

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What they’re saying

“We have been called by the police department or we have an accident probably every other day on our campuses or around our campuses. And most of them have to go to a hospital, not to mention the death of one of our students.”

— Krista Weigand, School Board Member

“I definitely think we can all agree that children TK and second grade are not terrorizing the streets of our community. They are typically riding to school with a parent.”

— Michelle Feldman, Parent

“The second they leave the sidewalk they're not ours. So we're trying to address something. We need the cities to be doing a lot more.”

— Ashley Anderson, School Board Member

What’s next

The Newport-Mesa Unified school board has sent the draft e-bike policy back to the district's policy commission for further revisions. The commission will take into account the comments from Tuesday's meeting as well as additional public input, and is expected to return with a revised policy draft at the next school board meeting in April.

The takeaway

This situation highlights the challenges school districts face in balancing student safety with promoting active transportation options. While Newport-Mesa Unified is right to be concerned about the risks of e-bikes, the initial policy proposal went too far in restricting access. The revised policy will need to find a more nuanced approach that addresses the district's safety concerns while still allowing reasonable e-bike and bicycle use, especially for younger students.