Nikiski parents organize drive in search of looser ATV policy

“Let’s roll.”

Those were the last words by organizer Misty Peterkin before more than two dozen ATVs and other off-road vehicles set out from the parking lot of M&M Market en route to Nikiski Middle/High School in the “Community Ride for Parking Policy Change” on Saturday.

The goal, Peterkin said, is to see a change in the school’s parking policy to allow students to ride their ATVs or other off-road vehicles to school.

The school’s policy, per the Nikiski Middle/High School Student Handbook, says that students may drive ATVs, UTVs, or motorcycles to school if they are 16 years old, have “the appropriate license,” and are registered and insured. Students driving these vehicles must park in a designated parking area.

Peterkin says she wants all students to be able to drive their vehicles to school, like her son who isn’t old enough to have a driver’s license. In support of that effort, dozens of people gathered Saturday for the ride, including parents and students from the Nikiski community. Also attending on a four-wheeler of his own was Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski.

From M&M Market, the riders drove alongside Nikishka Beach Road, up Education Drive and around the Nikiski Middle/High School parking lot. They ended at a section of the parking lot reserved specifically for ATVs. They arrived minutes before the start of the school’s first football game of the season.

Peterkin wrote earlier this month in an op-ed published by the Clarion that Nikiski residents depend on off-road vehicles as a means of transportation — “It’s a way of life.”

It’s that “way of life” that many came out to champion last weekend, with signs affixed to many vehicles with slogans such as “no barriers,” “let kids get to school” or “let freedom ride.”

That so many people came out to support the ride, Peterkin said, shows that people want to see the policy changed to allow kids to get to school using ATVs.

“There is enough support for a change — we need to see a change.” Peterkin said Saturday. “Kids should be able to get to school on their own merit.”

That’s why Carpenter said he came out to support the ride. He said that the use of ATVs and other vehicles “has been a traditional means for some people to get where they need to go.” Kids are legally allowed to use these vehicles off the roads, he said, and could use them to get to school when they may otherwise be unable to.

The existing policy, Nikiski Middle/High Principal Michael Crain said last week, was implemented in September 2023 in direct response to community feedback seeking ATV use to and from the school.

Before that, “for many years, a decade or more,” the school’s policy was that ATVs, snowmachines and unlicensed motorcycles were not allowed on campus at all.

Nikiski’s updated policy, he said, was designed to mirror language in a section of state law that was made effective on Jan. 1, 2022.

KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland said Tuesday that the school-specific policy was informed by analysis from the district’s legal and risk management staff. It isn’t feasible, he said, to establish a districtwide policy on the matter — he credited Crain with creating a compromise for Nikiski Middle/High that responds to concerns and “upholds the integrity of state laws and regulations.”

That state law says that “all-purpose vehicles,” like ATVs, can be operated on roadways where the speed limit is less than 45 miles per hour if they meet safety requirements and don’t otherwise violate local law. Drivers of ATVs on roads are required to have a driver’s license and liability insurance, just like a car.

Crain said that those requirements apply to Nikiski Middle/High School students, because “a school parking lot is considered a roadway.”

Peterkin says that the vehicles don’t need to be driven on roads, and kids shouldn’t be required to have licenses and insurance to get to school on an ATV.

Alaska State Troopers Communications Director Austin McDaniel said Tuesday that anyone can drive side trails using off-road vehicles as long as they aren’t operating recklessly or under the influence. As cited by the school district, someone under the age of 16 cannot legally operate an all-purpose vehicle on a maintained roadway. A school’s parking lot isn’t “necessarily” considered a maintained roadway, he said, but the roads leading to the school, like Education Drive, are. Of course, the school can set their own policy as owners of the property, he said.

Peterkin says that if a kid can get to school, they shouldn’t be turned away. If a student fails to use their vehicle respectfully or otherwise break policy, their individual privilege should be revoked.

In keeping with that sentiment, before setting out from M&M Market, Peterkin and another organizer told the group to drive safely and respectfully — to remember that they’re making a request to school leadership.

“I’m hoping for a change,” Peterkin said. “(Students) want to come here on their side-by-side, or their four-wheeler, or their dirt bike. They’re not able to.”

For more information, find “Nikiski Middle High School Community Ride for Parking Policy Change” on Facebook.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.