I am in high school, school hasn’t started yet so when I went to talk to a teacher I decided to ride my uni in the hallway. I did this again today and got told that if I am caught riding it again they will take it away.
I asked can I ride it outside, they told me nowhere on school property. Can they actually confiscate it for riding it on the sidewalk?
If it’s shool proberty, prob yes. But if along the school but City property, no.
It’s likely an insurance issue. If u got hurt (or hit someone else and they got hurt) and u or your health insurance company decided to sue it could bankrupt the school.
Riding your uni anywhere indoors at school is asking for trouble. If u did it on the weekend just riding around and not damaging anything (eg pedal grabs or grinds w/ meatal pedals) u prob would have been fine.
Before riding there again find out exactly what the penalty is, they prob can’t take your uni away permanently. I’d only do it if I couldn’t see anybody around.
Although its prob best to not antagonize them. If you’re polite about it and follow the rules maybe it will be allowed in the future (maybe a uni club on campus:o)
I know the insurance issues and all, I probably still will when I am there for something on the weekend. I am really considering asking if I can ride in the gym or hallways under certain circumstances. Living in Iowa I am going to basically not be able to ride from November-March. I’m not really good enough for any tricks, I haven’t been riding long.
If it’s on school property, they sure can.
BTW, there is plenty of riding oppurtunity from November-March. Even in Iowa.
If /when u get into street or trials it can be frustrating because schools are often where some of the best obstacles are. Best solution: build ur own (see my signature)
IT’s just kinda dumb, we pay (my parents) pay taxes which pay for the school grounds. It’s just like when the schools started banning metal detecting on the property.
See insurance.
The ban is likely to continue unless u inform and show them all the benefits of uni, it’s prevalence in schools in this and other countries, and how relatively safe it can be w/ the proper safety gear.
I think it’s great your unicycling. Don’t get hung up on whether or not you can ride in school. Do you really need (or even want) to ride at school? Do school at school, and ride when you’re off duty.
I’m from Iowa, and like Killian said, there’s plenty of opportunity for riding year-round there. In fact, I’ve always preferred riding/running when it’s cold outside…I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.
I have no real experience in dealing with this, but my advice is to be respectful and try to work with the school to allow unicycling.
Maybe in the gym?
Maybe in a certain parking lot at certain times?
Maybe with insurance? Seriously: http://uniusa.org/membership/insurance/
Suggest you form a club?
The more mature and serious you speak to the teachers and school officials about it, the more serious they will take you.
Also cite examples of schools / clubs where this works. You’ll have to some searching, or others can chime in here. It might be best to prepare and then ask for some time to sit down with someone and present some information. Just a few pages to flip through, brief and to the point.
If I were hearing this advice when I was in high school I’d probably think it was dorky and maybe too much trouble. Maybe you don’t. In any case I bet there is a way to get what you want if you put some effort in and play your cards right.
Im a cleaner at a high school and one of my areas is the Gym.
I cry even when guys play indoor cricket and hockey hitting and sliding their sticks and bats on the surface i care for.
I like sport, love uniing but for the floors sake and everyone who uses it and pays for its re surfacing each year, and me the poor cleaner mopping the marks off such a large area dont Uni inside on wooden floors or polished hallways. Even carpet from a Uni saddle hitting is might create more work for me and long term the carpet wont last as long as it could or should of.
Dont Uni Inside unless your pedals and saddle will not mark the floor or hit it with any force. Schools are caring of its users and there are so many liabilities and responsibilities they need to adhere to.
Take rail grinds to the skate park where its more suited and variety in one area. Save our schools and councils spending money repairing, preventing and getting their a**ses sued because someone on a Unicycle is giving us a bad name in their eyes.
People like to see unicycling but one wrong step on their morals they will shoot Unicycles down and make us all look bad.
I heard on the radio few days ago in AUS a guy was waiting for day surgery at hospital and a guy outside was pottering about on a Unicycle. Interesting to see at a hospital right, More so once the patient guy telling the story was in and waiting for the doctor… Low and behold the unicycist!! The patient was unsure whether he liked the fact the doctor was out in hes break doing a little Uniing then about to cut hes patient open. Good or Bad thing to witness?
I guess all i am saying is there is a time and a place, consider eveyone around you and if your on someones property respect their decisions and i dont know if they can confiscate someones things without police presence as such but i the cleaner sure will after the first warning.
But later after school or on the weekend i will buy you lunch and we can Uni until the sun goes down
Schools are very careful with their jurisdictions. Its a hard business to run and to keep everyone safe. We dont pay taxes or fees to damage property or potentially injury others or ourselves then require insurances to cover costs of repairs or medical treatments. Fees are to cover running costs simply and fairly. If it were not fair people wont pay it.
Dont Uni in Gyms so you dont need to cross paths with a big angry ugly cleaner (not me btw) or he might do hes Nut and totally go off at your innocent act
What they shouldn’t be able to do is ban unicycling by calling your uni a bike. What they can do is ban unis on school ground. You probably should have given it a little bit more thought before riding your uni in the hall. I have ridden a uni at school in the classroom but it was under much different circumstances. I was giving a speech on how unicycling is a sport, the teacher wasn’t strict and she knew that I intended to do it. I didn’t just take it to school and ride through the hallways. IF you aren’t immature about it you might be able to get them to let you ride in the gym if you agree to wear a helmet and be careful or something like that.
Thanks for all the input. I don’t intend to do any grinds, etc. I Am thinking about trying to propose a club but I don’t think they’d want to fund it. I was mostly wondering about why they threatened to take it if I rode it outside on the sidewalk.
You got some very good advice, from others above. If you will think through all that has been said, there is some gracious, and kindly stuff for you there.
Take it.
Nate
As mentioned above, those taxes are for the school being used as a school. If your parents (and evereyone else’s parents) would like to double that, it might be enough for the school to afford “everything” insurance.
Good thing. You want your doctor to have as many skills as possible! 
Now the question of whether that hospital has an insurance situation similar to Nathanial’s school. Being a doctor has its privileges, I guess. Could the doc have been Ken Looi? Probably not. I don’t picture Ken “puttering around” when he rides.
Not to take the thread off topic, but any large bureaucracy can be pretty good at wasting taxpayer money. Citizens can complain and vote accordingly, but to not pay taxes never seems to work as a viable strategy.
To stop you from riding it there. If you aren’t riding it, they are, the theory goes, less in danger of you getting injured on school grounds.
Your parents also pay taxes to drive on the roads, but there are rules that they must follow or they can be fined or lose their license.
Life is like that, rules exist for a reason, generally because someone (like you) did something that caused a problem.
Your parents do not pay takes so you could ride your uni on the “school grounds”, they pay takes so you can learn.
My question is whether your parents are getting their money’s worth? Hmmm, me thinks you need to learn a little more about personal responsibility 
It’s amazing how you forfeit your freedom as soon as you step between those doors…
I remember the life:
“Teacher, I need to use the bathroom.”
“No! You just went!”
What has the world come to when we can’t eve use the bathroom on our own terms?
Go and do some maths, history and English in the middle of the skate park instead. Or would that be inappropriate because that is not what a skate park is for?
School property = school rules.
I am often tempted to ride my uni indoors at work or other places, but usually don’t just because I think of things, like would I want someone riding with a big black tire on my floor, esp. after I just cleaned it?
As unicyclists we have an esp. big responsibility to be representatives for our sport, given that there are so few of us. I take that seriously and try to be as friendly and thoughtful as I can with my uni.
Couldn’t agree more with that last paragraph Though sometimes some of the teenagers round my end push my buttons 
On the subject: Why were you riding in school anyway? 
I understand outside but why in the corridor…
I graduated in May, so my recollection of school bathroom policies is still pretty fresh.
It’s true, you need to ask to use the bathroom, but 99% of the time when I asked, I was allowed. Why? Because I actually sat in class and did my work, and didn’t abuse the priviledge. Many kids these days are lazy and looking for an excuse to get out of class or go smoke some dank. Those kids are the reason rules like that are in place.
Everyone suffers for the few that take advantage, that’s just life and it applies to many, many things.