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Administrator’s Corner by Nick Sofio

There is a group of students who play a very important role within our Lakeview Elementary School community. Before and after school you can find some of our fifth graders hoisting orange flags and announcing to car traffic to be alert for students crossing the street.  From the hot and humid days of late August to the bitterly cold and snowy days of January, you can find the Lakeview School Patrol safely guiding our students through the intersections near our school.

This year, roughly 30 Lakeview students in fifth grade are actively participating in our school patrol program. I often hear from students as young as kindergarten that they can’t wait to get old enough to be a school patrol member.  They watch closely as their older siblings participate in the program. Although many students begin their interest in the program while in a younger grade level, the school patrol process officially begins in the spring of their fourth-grade year. After signing up for school patrol, the fourth-grade candidates are tutored by the seasoned fifth-grade members, getting valuable experience through observing and ultimately having opportunities to cross students/families on their own. 

School patrol allows our students to gain valuable, real life experience in a leadership role within the community. Being assertive, communication and creative problem-solving are skills that are constantly being accessed when the students are on patrol. Furthermore, two students are named school patrol captains and take on additional responsibilities such as scheduling and writing up any safety concerns they may see during arrival and dismissal.  Each summer our two patrol captains attend Legionville, which is a training center where they learn about the correct school safety patrol methods. They also got to do some canoeing, swimming in the lake, eating campfire snacks, telling stories and meeting new people to go along with their instructional classes throughout the day

Please be alert when you drive into a school zone and keep an eye out for our school patrol members in the morning or at the end of the day! The cooperation and attentiveness of the community helps make our school areas safe!

Nick Sofio is the principal of Lakeview Elementary School.