Articles

February 7 is Crossing Guard Appreciation Day!

crossingguard1Crossing Guards are often our first contact with pedestrian safety as children – They are the first ones, besides our parents, who instruct us where to cross, how to be safe and they protect our safe passage across the street on our way to school.

And, as drivers, Crossing Guards are our reminders that we are driving near a school and that we need to slow down and be mindful of our duties to stop at crosswalks to let our community’s children cross.

It is not an easy job, and considering we live in the metro area with the highest number of pedestrian injuries and fatalities, it is also an important job!

Please join us as we salute our brave and reliable crossing guards this first week of February!  Orange County guards will be visited at their posts and given tokens of appreciation, and an official proclamation was presented to the County’s School Guard Unit by Mayor Jacobs and attended by Sherriff Demings last week.  City of Orlando guards will also be receiving goodie bags and a luncheon.

What can we do to honor these trusty guardians of our children’s safe passage to school?

THANK THEM.  This week, when you see your child’s crossing guard – even if you don’t have a child, but are stopping for them as they guide children across safely – stop and say thank you.

SLOW DOWN.  Don’t forget to obey the lowered speed limits in school zones.

And when you or your schoolchildren are walking, our Crossing Guards want you to remember to:

  • Cross at marked crosswalks
  • Always look both ways and over your shoulders before crossing the street to ensure cars have stopped
  • Never step off curve until you have made eye contact with drivers and ensure they are stopped.
  • Be aware of distracted drivers
  • Never be distracted with iPod, cell phones, etc…..while crossing the street.
  • When crossing at location where there are school crossing guards, please follow their instructions before they crossing
  • Always use pedestrian signals when available.
  • Never cross mid block unless the road is clearly marked with a crosswalk and signage

 

Thank you, Crossing Guards!!!

Related Posts

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Hello,

    My name is George Dare and I am an award winning composer, arranger and music producer.

    I have recently finished creating a song titled “We Love Our Crossing Guards” which I would like to offer to you to use at no charge.

    Before I go on, let me share that you may recognize my last name D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) – Yes, I am the DARE guy. Throughout my career I have give positive choice concerts in the schools to over a million students throughout the United States and Canada.

    Now that the DARE program has subsided greatly, I am focusing my attention to Safety Songs for kids. With such brand new songs as:

    1) Buckle Up – seatbelt song . . . which can be seen on YouTube at http://youtu.be/OSYb2SZ4p0M
    2) I’ll Be Wearing My Helmet – bicycle safety . . . which can be seen on YouTube at http://youtu.be/VThfUZeF5yg
    3) Look Left; Look Right – before you cross the street . . . which can be seen on YouTube at http://youtu.be/DvGk-WdmHz4

    Many years ago, I also created the Fire Safety Song “Stop, Drop & Roll” which is taught to over 8-million students and Sr. Citizens every year.

    Back to my thoughts at hand . . .

    What I am imagining is children throughout the Country learning this song so they can sing it to their Crossing Guards during your Crossing Guard Appreciation Day – I can’t imagine there being a dry eye in the place. I also believe that kids will sing this song to their Crossing Guards on a daily basis as a way to say hello and also show their appreciation for all they do.

    This Crossing Guard song can be seen/heard on YouTube at http://youtu.be/imtdfTajlOw

    If you would like to use this or any of my songs, please send me an e-mail to this address and I will send you the full song(s) with my lead voice; an instrumental version of the song(s) so the students can perform it themselves as well as the lyric sheet(s).

    I look forward to your thoughts.

    Musically,
    George Dare
    702-275-2800

    P.S. I will be putting together a YouTube video to match the “We Love Our Crossing Guard” so if you have any photos that you’d like to send me for that project, please do.

    “Making a Positive Difference in the World One Song at a Time”

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *



This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back To Top