Students can find safety on the roads in a school bus
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Every year thousands of kids die riding in or driving cars, riding bikes or walking to and from school. Brent Batten with Florida's Naples Daily News takes on the safety advantage of kids riding Florida's school buses in a head-on collision with kids desire for independence. -JK
By Brent Batten
Brent is a columnist for Florida's Naples Daily News. First published by The Naples Daily News, original story title, STUDENTS CAN FIND SAFETY ON THE ROADS IN A SCHOOL BUS, published March 14, 2000, Copyright �2000, All Rights Reserved. Posted by permission from Naples Daily News.
The Naples Daily News
Florida - Gulf Coast High School students, seeking to prevent a repeat of the tragic car crash that took one of their own on March 3, are gathering signatures on a petition to make Immokalee Road safer.
It is entirely appropriate that they should do so.
But there is an even more concrete, immediate step that teen-agers - both at Gulf Coast and other public schools - could take to improve vehicular safety.
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They could ride the school bus.
Every day, hundreds of Collier County's most inexperienced drivers are on the roads during the morning rush hour.
At the same time, buses shuttle other students from the same neighborhoods to the same schools.
When the talk around Naples turns to easing traffic congestion, the subject of public transportation usually comes up.
School buses are essentially public transportation reserved solely for that segment of the public known as students.
Unfortunately, many in this demographic fail to take advantage of its existence. In that regard, they are not much different than their parents. As a rule, public transit systems nationwide are under-used and most, as a result, lose money. Collier County as a whole has been unable to muster a constituency for public transit.
But students do have access to it. For some, the bus is an impractical option. After-school jobs or other responsibilities require them to have their own transportation. But for others, the bus is simply not cool.
Driving a car to school is a first taste of independence. You can leave home later and get home, or wherever you're headed after school, earlier with your own wheels. You can choose with whom you ride.
The dynamic of riding the bus vs. driving to school probably hasn't changed much since cars and teen-agers first started making each other's acquaintance in the 1950s. Continued on Page Two
South Carolina's Post & Courier investigates public education
In September 1999 The Post and Courier newspaper began a year-long, intensive look at primary and secondary education in South Carolina.
"We plan to probe the reasons that our public education system is at the bottom in national rankings, to analyze the proposed solutions and to determine whether there are realistic remedies not yet being considered in this state," said Barbara Williams, Editor, back in September.
Williams said one of their greatest resources will be the readers. She hopes to hear from South Carolinians in writing and in person as the paper travels the state trying to find answers to South Carolina's most serious and most complicated problems," Williams said.
Click Here to visit the accumulating stories, "S.C. Schools, The Learning Crisis"
Creator Duncan Wells
The Love & Safety Club
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In-Class Safety Education Program
The Nova Scotia Children's Music & Story Production Company is offering elementary schools an innovative child safety program to help connect kids with the need to develop basic safety awareness.
Duncan Wells, creator of The Love & Safety Club In-Class Safety Education Program said, "The program is designed so teachers can have the freedom to offer creative input to the program themselves."
The Love & Safety Club is different from other safety education programs due to the fact that it uses music and a child's natural ability to commit fun words to memory in order to reinforce those basic safety skills that are important to children on a day to day basis. This program is effective, entertaining and, best of all, fun for both teachers and students, Wells said.
In order to properly conduct this fun and effective safety education program in your school a copy of the Love & Safety Club music CD or cassette recording is needed, along with enough membership cards for each child in your class. The first time purchase of these materials means, with proper care, you will never have to purchase it again. The only continued cost will be purchasing inexpensive membership cards.
For more information about the program and how to purchase The Love & Safety Club In-Class Safety Education Program Package write: Duncan Wells, The Love & Safety Club, 291 Champlain Avenue, Sydney, Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia, Canada B1P 6P9, or Click Here to visit the Love & Safety Club Web Site.
NOTE: 2safeschools does not charge producers to review and present selected and innovative safety programs. Producers of childerns' safety or bus driver training programs who would like 2safeschools to review and present your program to our membership please E-Mail 2safeschools for submission information - Subject: Safety Product.
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Click here for dozens of stories on the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado.
