MADD about child safety

10/11/2002 By Patti Rasmussen [Signal Staff Writer]

The second-graders looked forward to Tuesday afternoon. This was their time with Deputy Mike Shapiro from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Shapiro spends Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons with students in grades one through five at Peachland Elementary, teaching them how to protect themselves in dangerous situations and how to make good choices.

“Protecting You-Protecting Me” is an eight-week pilot program from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). The program has age-appropriate lesson plans that include reading books about safety and using hands-on, interactive games and songs about how drugs and alcohol change the body.

“Studies have shown that kids start drinking in sixth grade,” Shapiro said. “I want to help them make good decisions at a young age.”

Shapiro, a traffic deputy, has seen the results of drinking and driving. He attended a training seminar through MADD and the organization provides him with all the materials, which he calls “deputy proof,” giving him a clear lesson plan that builds upon itself with each grade level.

Second-grade teacher Jan Edick said her students always look forward to Deputy Shapiro’s visits.

“They love him and love having a deputy come in the classroom,” she said. “The program is something the teachers can do, but we love when (Shapiro) comes in to teach. The students have a lot of respect for him.”

One of the lesson plans had to do with helmets. Shapiro gave the second-graders several drawings of helmets, such as a football helmet, a bicycle helmet and a motorcycle helmet. They were to choose one they liked and write a description of how that particular headgear would save a person’s life.

The third-graders memorized a rap song called “Rapping to an Ocean of Emotions,” which told about how your brain can warn you of danger.

Samantha Swiatek said she and her classmates enjoy the lessons.

“(Deputy Shapiro) is really cool,” she said. “He explains a lot of things like why you are not suppose to do drugs and about our health. I’m really learning a lot.”

Shapiro said he hopes to see the program in all of the schools, including junior high. Teachers can be trained through MADD and can incorporate the program into their regular curriculum, he said.

“It’s a good program and it’s working in other states,” Shapiro said. “We need to start educating these kids at a young age.”