Danny Kinal

I did ride a bike and promoted cycling especially with Junior High age. At the age of 50 I was still riding with students on three day excursions in Jasper on mountain bike trails, where we would cycle for 7-8 hrs per day. Two years ago I gave my bike to my 28 yr old son who lives in the Whyte Avenue area and uses it for commuting.

2. Do you feel comfortable riding on the road with traffic?
When I took my vehicle in for servicing I used to throw my bike in the trunk and cycle home as I left it there for the day. Some streets like 75 and 50 st from 82 Ave to 34 Ave were just too busy and dangerous. Since then, some walkways and bike paths have been built.

Do you feel that students are comfortable cycling (for at least part of their trip) to school? If not, why? What would you change to make cyclists feel more confident?
As a Principal for 29 yrs, I think they are if they travel with other riders in single file and have access to sidewalks and paths. They also need to have a secure lock up area at school.

Numerous studies have established the relationship between increased physical activity and better academic achievement. As trustee, what specific actions will you take to encourage active transportation among students and staff?
As a Principal, Daily PhysEd was a must and part of our day. We focused on all types of exercise especially creative exercise in a non-Gym environment, with the hope that it carried to the home. With inclement weather we always had in-class items for exercises, DVD’s for leading movement and dance.

How will you engage parents, principals and administrators to make health a priority, especially in regards to active transportation?
As a Principal I did, and my attitudes and beliefs will not change. I will seek data on the status of Daily PhysEd in our schools.

a. What policies and practices need to be changed or created to achieve this goal? Because of the open-boundary, program-based school system in Edmonton, many students travel long distances to school. How would you encourage active transportation given this fact?
We need to think “ease of program” and focus on regular and daily activity. Our students use the hallways, the classrooms…activities were posted and we rotated through stations that focused on different parts of the body.

School closures discourage active transportation by increasing travel distances. Would you encourage study of the student health (and correlated academic) consequences of school closures?
Our Catholic schools are already widely spread in comparison to the Public neighborhood schools and we face these barriers to a degree already.

An initiative in Nova Scotia, which included opening school gyms after hours for non-competitive sport activities, saw a 72% reduction in obesity rates. What innovative ways would you propose to increase school utilization and physical activity?
As a Principal, staff members were doing the same with students at lunch time and after school on a regular basis. Students had to sign up with parent approval as many of the would miss their after school bus ride. We encouraged car pools and parents alternating driving. Each fall we had a daily Running Club and participated in at least three Cross Country runs. Every student had at least 15 minutes of daily PhysEd and access to 90 minutes per week of Gym time. Our school Gym was also used three nights a week from 6:00 to 11:00 for community sports activities, children and adult.

Do the schools in your ward have adequate, secure bicycle parking?
This varies from school to school in terms of location, sight lines, and availability of enough lock up spaces. This was a priority for me and in three schools I had the bike racks re-located to better visibilty. Bike racks were monitored and students were aware that if they forgot their lock, bikes could be brought inside to a special safe storage area.

What kind of education programs would you engage in to encourage effective cycling?
We were regular users of the River Valley Bike program, which I believe is now disbanded because of bicycle cost and maintenance. We offered the Helmet Safety program each year. Our whole school Walkathon fundraiser always included bikes for prizes.

What would you do to discourage students being dropped-off/picked-up in private vehicles?
As a Principal for 29 yrs many times in new communities, it would be very difficult for me to make that recommendation: many of our students were too young in Elem schools, too far from home, more than half were bussed from distances of 3-8 km, Alberta winters from Oct to April, need to travel in groups. Practicality and safety often override good intentions.

Do you have a recent photo of yourself riding your bicycle? Please send it to us digitally!
Not a recent one, as they are now more than 10 yrs old.