NORWALK, Conn. — The Norwalk Board of Education’s Policy Committee voted Thursday night to send a district-wide ban on e-bikes and other motorized personal transportation devices to the full board, after city fire and police officials laid out a summer’s worth of crashes, seizures, and battery fires tied to the devices.
The committee also began work on a second policy that would ban screen use during elementary school recess, though members agreed to hold off on a vote so staff can add an exception for teacher-led group activities, like short movement breaks, that use a video.
E-bike ban heads to full board
The e-bike policy, known as Policy 5038, would bar e-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards, and other battery-powered transportation devices from all Norwalk Public Schools property at all times. Regular, non-motorized bikes, skateboards, and scooters would still be allowed.
District safety supervisors Jonathan Kinne and Vidal Gonez presented the policy alongside Norwalk Fire Marshal Troy Donohue and Police Chief James Walsh.
Kinne said the biggest concern is fire danger. The lithium-ion batteries in the devices are not allowed inside school buildings, he said, and there is no reliable way to stop students from bringing them in or to safely charge them on campus.
“Keeping them away from main entrances, even if they’re outside, and/or providing adequate charging stations are things we do not have and cannot provide, nor can we police on school grounds,” Kinne said.
Donohue described a chain reaction inside damaged lithium batteries called thermal runaway, where heat spreads uncontrollably from one battery cell to the next. He said the city has already responded to several fires linked to e-bikes and e-scooters, some of which forced families out of their homes.
Walsh said his department has investigated four serious crashes involving e-bikes in the past six weeks alone, and that the e-bike rider was at fault in every one. Officers have taken more than 50 e-bikes off the street since early July, he said, and some riders have painted over the labels that show a bike’s motor wattage, making it harder for police to tell which state rules apply.
“We understand this is a new phenomenon, and sort of the messaging and the education has not caught up with the use,” Walsh said.
Board member Ashley Gulyas asked whether the policy would leave any option for staff who commute to school by e-bike. Gonez said no one had raised that concern yet but said the district could look into alternatives if it came up.
Assistant Superintendent Ralph Valenzisi, who led the presentation, told the committee that two sentences would be removed from the policy’s companion regulation before it goes to the full board. Those sentences had said confiscated devices would be stored in the main office, which conflicts with the rule that the devices can’t come inside school buildings at all. Instead, staff would secure a confiscated device outside and call a parent or guardian to pick it up.
The committee voted unanimously to send the corrected policy to the full board, which could take it up at its next business meeting.
Recess screen ban gets a second look
The committee also reviewed proposed changes to Policy 5016, which covers recess and play-based learning. The update would add a flat rule that students may not use screens during recess, and would remove the word “predominantly” from the existing policy, closing what officials described as a loophole that let some screen use continue.
Valenzisi said the change followed feedback from parents, some of whom worried that vague wording would let teachers count things like YouTube videos as acceptable recess activities.
The Norwalk Federation of Teachers (NFT) also weighed in, telling the board it supports removing screens from recess but wants an exception for rare situations, subject to a building leader’s approval.
That question, how much room to leave for teacher discretion, took up most of the discussion. Gulyas, a music teacher outside her board role, said she did not want students back on Chromebooks or watching movies, but worried the policy could stop teachers from using a short, teacher-led movement video during indoor recess on a rainy day.
“I’m glad you brought up that NFT reached out, Jasmine, because I was wondering if we’d solicited the teacher perspective here,” Gulyas said, referring to committee chair Jasmine Prezzie.
Board member Mary Ellen Flaherty-Ludwig asked directly whether showing a movie on a snow day would count as banned screen time. Valenzisi said yes, and that the goal is to get students doing things like board games, card games, or coloring instead.
The committee agreed the policy should still ban students from using personal devices during recess, but asked staff to add language allowing a teacher to lead a short, group movement activity using a screen only with a building administrator’s approval. No vote was taken. Valenzisi said the updated language will come back for a second reading at October’s policy meeting.
Valenzisi also told the committee the district’s after-school partner, the Carver Foundation, is adjusting its own screen-time practices to match the new policy once it’s final.
Looking ahead, Valenzisi said next month’s meeting will take up a new homework policy, including a possible ban on assigning homework that requires a screen and rules against giving homework over holiday breaks.
The board also plans to begin adding student representatives, working with the Center for Youth Leadership on that process.
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