FTLComm - Tisdale - April 21, 1999
From late August to the end of June this daily ritual is played out in front of Tisdale's elementary school. Three blocks of cars on each side of the street, a flock of buses, a number of parents to accompany their children, this is what it is like. Tuesday afternoon it was drizzling a bit and perhaps that increased the traffic, but definitely this is one of the busiest places in town. The person in charge is the grade five student on the right, who directs the safety patrol and who's word is the law. Confident and self assured, she marshalls her crew and keeps things moving safely. Between traffic movements she explained to me how parents come to pick up their kids and she and her co-workers biggest problem are not the cars and buses but the really short people who run, instead of walk across the controlled intersection. In the couple of minutes I watched the process three grade one type people sprinted across the street while each of the safety patrol people cringed and expressed their displeasure at the dangerous behaviour.