It’s 3 o’clock at Neil M. Ross School – home time. Grade 5 students Julia Jensen, Lucia Ryan and the rest of the Safety Patrol head out to make sure their peers get home alive.
The streets and parking lot here are a chaotic mix of excited students, wary parents, and lumbering cars and buses. Jensen and Ryan keep their cool and keep the pedestrians off the street until they run through the proper procedure.
“Pooooint! Dou-ble cheeeck! Pro-ceed!” they sing in unison, as they point with their stop signs, check both ways for cars, trigger the pedestrian crosswalk lights, and lower their outstretched arms to let people step onto Woodlands Road once it’s safe to do so.
“Great job, girls!” says Sherry Gagne, the school’s vice-principal.
Jensen and Ryan are two of the roughly 500 Grade 5 and 6 students who volunteer for the AMA’s Safety Patrol program in St. Albert.
Safety Patrol gives students a chance to show leadership and keep their peers safe, said program spokesperson Carrie Herrick-Fitzgerald.
“They are the custodians of the crosswalk,” she said, and there has never been a fatality or serious injury at any crosswalk monitored by Safety Patrol members in the program’s 80-plus-year history.
Neil M. Ross has 34 students enrolled in Safety Patrol, said Gagne, who was a patroller herself as a student. They have to sign up for shifts, stick to a schedule and spend about 25 minutes on the job every day before and after school, no matter the weather.
“They’re out there rain or shine, they’re out there when it’s cold,” she said.
Patrollers are leaders in the school and are singled out for recognition at monthly assemblies, Gagne said. Members also get occasional treats and get to go on a special field trip at the end of the year.
View from the street
Ryan said she signed up for Safety Patrol last spring because she liked to keep people safe.
“There has been times when people have been badly hurt by cars because they weren’t crossing safely,” she said, and she gets to help prevent injuries by being a patroller.
Now in his second year with the patrol, Kian Hanson said he found patrol duty fun and enjoyed the chance to chat with his friends after school. The rain and snow could get a bit miserable, but you just have to dress for the weather.
Neil M. Ross posts patrollers at two crosswalks on Woodlands Rd. and at a third one inside the school’s parking lot, Gagne said.
“Little kids, they’re in such a rush to go after school if you don’t have someone there they have a tendency to just run across the street,” Gagne said.
“These patrollers make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Ryan said patrollers hold out their arm to make sure no one crosses until they’re sure all cars are stopped. They sing their “point, double-check, proceed” procedure to get everyone’s attention, and trigger pedestrian-activated crossing lights for added safety.
Ryan said one common problem she sees at the crosswalk is drivers who start moving before everyone is safely across.
“I just find that really unsafe.”
Hanson said drivers should use hands-free phones to keep from being distracted in school zones, and remember to slow down.
“Most of these people drive by every day. I think they should realize they need to slow down before they come through a school zone.”
Questions on Safety Patrol should go to Herrick-Fitzgerald at 780-430-5744.
