School Safety Committee, The (1953)

[Music] dedicated to the boys and girls of school safety committees whose services to their schools have resulted in the prevention of countless accidents the saving of many lives and in happier safer school days for their fellow students [Music] [Music] hello I want to tell you about what happened to me when we moved here and I started at Franklin School my name's Clifford Adams there I am on my bike I'd been to the school the afternoon before with my mother but you know it isn't easy your first regular day at a new school you don't know anybody and you don't know exactly what to do just as I was going to ride into the schoolyard this boy stopped me he asked me if I'd walk my bike on the school grounds that way I wouldn't be taking a chance of running into anybody I found out later his name was Alan Smith he seemed to be in charge he told me how all the boys and girls stop and salute the flag on their way to school Franklin School sure seemed different than my old school like every place there was a chance for an accident or any trouble there was a boy or girl to remind us of safe practices Alan's job was to tell the bike riders that it's safer to walk their bikes on the grounds and to park them in the racks out of the way if they were just standing or lying around somebody might fall over them and get hurt a girl was helping at the drinking fountain that way everybody has a fair chance to get a drink I didn't want to be late that first morning so when I heard the first Bell I ran from my room that was wrong too there was another boy with an armband here he said his job was to help us use the entrance safely he told me it's safer not to run through the halls or to take a chance on bumping into anyone else at a corner or in a hall I was getting kind of mixed up and then this Allen said hello to me I asked him what was going on who are these boys and girls who seem to help run the whole school Alan said they were the members of the School Safety Committee I didn't even know what it was so Alan explained how it works girls and boys are chosen each semester to serve on the Safety Committee they represent their rooms and wear Badges and help keep their school safe then I asked Alan about the band on his arm he said the boys and girls who wore those had special jobs look at the bike rack and in the halls and raising the flag then guess what Alan said there was a safety committee meeting that day and asked me if I'd like to come and watch if I could get permission from my teacher would [Music] I I got permission and Alan and I went to the meeting together after the flag salute the president a girl from my room called the meeting to order it was SW the officers really did run the meeting too whenever the principal Mr Andrews or the safety sponsor Mrs Beck wanted to say anything they had to be what they call recognized by the chairman just like everybody else that's the way our whole country is run government of the People by the people for the people the people picked their president and senators and representatives then they all worked for us in Washington just like the Safety Committee works for us at school next the president said it was time for the subcommittees to meet these are boys and girls who work on the same type of jobs like raising the flag or on the playground or in the hall Billy Nelson is on the playground committee during recess he helps the other boys and girls to play without getting hurt or hurting anybody else the rest of the playground committee have jobs like billies too in their meeting they talked over how to keep the playground safe Carol Thomas was on the hall and entrance committee they have charged in the Halls to see that boys and girls don't get hurt by running or bumping into each other on the wrong side of the hall watching out for and things like that after a while the chairman said the subcommittee meetings were over she asked the chairman to report most of them just told about their jobs and what their committees were doing then they'd sit down but when they got to Carol's committee she said they had a problem they wanted the whole Safety Committee to discuss it and help them out you see Carol said some boys and girls had been running to get in the ice cream line they all talked it over and decided the committee members should go back and discuss it with their classes they voted to have Mrs Beck put it in the school safety bulletin too she said she would Donal kensky has a very important job he's chairman of the bus committee you know a lot of boys and girls live quite away from school they ride on a bus and Donald acts almost like a conductor he helps the driver Mr cronic on the way too by reminding everybody of the bus safety rad that way Mr crony can give more attention to his driving so you can see how important the Safety Committee is at our school a little later the president called on my new friend Alan you see when the school gets new safety posters Alan explains them to the committee then Allan gives them to the room representatives and they take the posters back to their classes and discuss them just before the end of the meeting they all stood up and recited the safety pledge then the president adjourned the the meeting I sure liked it I was beginning to think this school was really swell we watched television quite a lot at our house when the bell rang I knew who it was I'd asked Alum to come over to my house that night and meet Mom and Dad he was a SW guy I sure liked him my folks did too I asked gum to explain to Dad about about the Safety Committee he was sure interested Alan told him how the boys and girls are chosen on the committee he said the idea was to help all the boys and girls think about safety and develop safety habits that will last all their lives then Dad told us something we didn't know he said the big airplane Factory where he works has a Safety Committee just like ours at school he said the men on the committee are the leaders they wear safety badges like ours too and remind the other men how to avoid accidents and how to be safety minded all the time just think a committee like ours you know I decided right then I was going to get on our school committee you know something I made it the next semester all the members of the old committee got certificates of Merit but I was pretty proud of my friend Alan he got something else an honor award for outstanding ACH that was because the safety sponsor Mrs Beck thought he' done such a fine job Mr Andrews the principal told us all about how important a job we had to do he said more kids from 1 to 14 years old are killed every year in accidents then die of all the worst diseases by thinking talking and acting safely we will be helping others and learning safety habits that will last all our lives I felt pretty proud as we all stood up and got ready to give the safety pledge ofs everywhere [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]