New Safe Routes to School Coordinators in City and County

Got an idea for the biking or walking in the city schools? Contact Matt Hassman (matthassman@gmail.com)
Got an idea for biking or walking in Rockingham Schools? Contact Kyle Lawrence (Lawrence.kyle.d@gmail.com)

The bicycle community is very excited to have two new Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Coordinators in the area. While the city of Harrisonburg public schools has had a Safe Routes to School Coordinator for a few years, Rockingham County Public Schools received the Safe Routes to School grant for the first time and hired their first coordinator in December 2015.

The City of Harrisonburg SRTS Coordinator, Matt Hassman, started working through Sentara RMH and Harrisonburg Public

Schools in January 2016. Becky Johnston with Sentara RMH had this to say about the new SRTS coordinator, “We are very excited to welcome Matt to the Safe Routes to School team!  He brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding as well as a fresh perspective to the program. Matt has been a volunteer for us by leading rides for PE classes at Thomas Harrison, assisting with bike to school clinics and rodeos and has even shown us all how we can pull his dog in a trailer on the family fun ride!  We look forward to the year ahead with Matt.”

You might already be familiar with Matt either through his time working at Shenandoah  Bicycle Company or his other ongoing project, (L)earn A Bike. He is really excited to continue working both with children and bikes as he advocates and facilitates bringing the two together in our schools. Matt works many Saturdays with the (L)earn-a-Bike Program through Gift and Thrift.

Matt is also organizing a March bicycle ride through the SVBC: The Goshen Pass Randonnee

As for Rockingham County Public Schools, Kyle Lawrence is the new Safe Routes to School Coordinator. With 180 bicycles and 3 trailers to be delivered by the end of February, Rockingham County is off to a great start and is working towards bicycles in every school one day in the not too distant future. When not working for Rockingham County or riding his bike, Kyle spends his time posting on the SVBC website!