Annual Safety Town class enjoys another successful year, teaches local children about community safety and more
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
Elkhorn’s annual Safety Town summer school program has once again gone off without a hitch due to its support from numerous local agencies including the schools, fire and police services, and sponsors, Durham bus services.
School Liaison Officer Joe Kirkpatrick, who handles the program on behalf of the City of Elkhorn Police Department, said in its 18th year, the program continues its strong tradition in educating incoming kindergarten students about safety, healthy life choices and being a part of the community.
Each year, Kirkpatrick said the program takes over the small gym in the middle school, where he tapes off streets and crosswalks to build the program’s Safety Town, where students take to the “streets” in Kettle Cars – a small pedal car – to learn about not only driving safely, but also navigating the town on foot safely.
“I teach them how to stop at stop signs, how to share the road with others,” he said. “It’s probably the most positive two weeks that I have out of the whole school year. There’s nothing negative about the whole two-weeks and it’s just really fun.”
In addition to the Kettle cars, which he said is essential in informing students about properly navigating city streets safely on a bicycle, Kirkpatrick said the program also brings in numerous other speakers, such as the fire department, rescue squad and others to cover things like handwashing, healthy snacks, good-touch, bad touch, bicycle safety and stranger danger.
At the end of the week, students leave with a t-shirt and a certificate, recognizing their completion of the program.
A fairly new addition to the program over the past few years, Kirkpatrick said on Wednesday they gather students up and take them over to Matheson Memorial Library to read books and do crafts with “hometown heroes,” such as representatives of the fire and police departments.
“It’s really just kind of a cool day,” he said.
In addition, Kirkpatrick said it’s a great opportunity for students to learn about the library and how it works as well.
“It’s kind of a get-acquainted with the library kind of day, which is great for the little ones,” he said.
A key aspect about the program, he said, is that for the majority of the students who take the course, it’s their very first encounter with a police officer, something he said he aims to make a positive experience for each and every one of the students.
Kirkpatrick said what differs about Elkhorn’s Safety Town program, open to all incoming kindergarten students in the first session of summer school, is that it doesn’t cost the students anything to participate in the program.
Kirkpatrick said he couldn’t pull it off each year without the help of numerous people and groups, all of which he’s grateful for. He noted Wendy Zimmerman, who has helped implement healthy eating into the program, Durham School Services and Elkhorn Area High School senior Brooklynn Radonski, who has donated her time each year since she was in seventh grade to the program.
“She just loves to work with the kids,” he said.
“She is just unbelievable … she always asks before the year is done, ‘can I do it next year?’ She’s a really caring person.”
Kirkpatrick additionally noted the help of high school students in the shop class, who built the houses for the Safety Town setup from lumber donated by what was formerly Stan’s Lumber, and students from the art department that donated their time to paint them.
Kirkpatrick also noted the help of Durham School Services. He said this year marked the third year in which Durham has sponsored the program, each paying for the purchase of t-shirts for each of the 80 to 110 students who participate in the program.
“It’s a positive thing for these kids to come into school and see how many different groups of people are out there and how many good people are in this community,” he said.
