DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / October 11, 1999

If you pass the Glade School in the mornings and afternoons, you might notice the young men and women equipped with bright orange-red straps across the olive green of their school uniform shirts.

“The little kids call us ‘the flashlight cops’ because our uniforms are so bright,” says Glade School Patrol member Billy Griffin, 14.

The fledgling School Patrol program was the brainchild of new principal Robert Schaff. Hilton Francois, a veteran teacher, oversees the dozen or soseventh- and eighth-graders who are participating.

The purpose of the School Patrol is to enforce safety rules as smaller children arrive at school in the morning and board buses for home in the afternoon.

It’s quite a handful to keep an eye on the approximately 1,100 students at the Glade School, but Francois says so far his School Patrol is doing a great job.

“They love it,” he says. “They’re at their posts every day.”School Patrol guards are stationed at every door of the school during take- in and dismissal as well as at the gates to allow buses through. Dutiesinclude helping smaller children get on the right bus safely and stopping children from running in school halls or across driveways.

“Most of us are role models for the smaller kids,” says Bennie LeMieux, 14, captain of the School Patrol.

Each week LeMieux puts out a roster listing each member’s assignment for that week. Members rotate posts so that everyone in the School Patrol isfamiliar with every post.

Other officers include Griffin, who serves as lieutenant, and Sgt. AvoMarzwanian, 13.

Volunteers for the program, as well as those recruited by Schaff and Francois, must take a test based on their ability to think rather than on book knowledge, which Francois says most of the School Patrol did very well on.

Members must also pledge to be on time and to obey the chain of command within the organization.

“They have to show responsibility,” says Francois. “They have to showthey can do things without being told.”Francois says he’s looking to possibly expanding the program later in the year to have members help keep order in the cafeteria during lunchtime.

“The younger kids look up to the patrol,” he says.

And the older children are feeling a connection to their small charges.

“I’m proud that we get to help the children so that they get on the right bus and get home safely,” says Marzwanian.

Back to Top

Back to Leisure Headlines

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher