Safety Town Child Safety Program
	Register for Safety Town 2008 Parent Information Sheet-UPDATED 2008 Dates have changed. Click link above to view changes. Parent Brochure How to Start a Safety Town in Your Neighborhood (PDF)
	69th Annual Safety Town Slide Show 2006(PDF)

           Safety Town, a safety education program, was founded in 1937 in Mansfield, Ohio by Traffic Commissioner Frend Boals and Kindergarten Teacher Ruth Robbins. It was designed to teach various areas of traffic safety to pre-kindergarten children in a free community program.

            This program has been sponsored by the City of Mansfield, administered by the Mansfield Division of Police and funded by private donations ever since that time. This generous financial support has enabled the City to continue this program for over 70 years without cost to children and their families.

            The same basic concept of teaching 4 and 5 year old children basic traffic laws and safety procedures has always been a part of the curriculum. However, we annually review statistics gathered from a consolidation of various web sites and printed safety material to make sure our curriculum meets the needs of children entering school in the fall.

            Please note these eye opening statistics regarding safety issues involving children:

•  Children suffer higher risk of disability or death through preventative injury than all childhood diseases combined

• Seventy percent of all fire ending in childhood death are started by children

•  Bicycle and pedestrian accidents are the leading cause of non-fatal injuries to children

•   Each year over 1,000 children are poisoned by household products, plants and drugs. Most of them are pre-schoolers and occur before lunch and supper when  children are hungry or thirsty.

• The U.S. Department of Justice statistics of kidnapped children in America estimated that 114,600 non-family abductions are attempted year, with approximated 3,200 to 4, 600 being successful.

            In view of these statistics and an evaluation of local needs, 2006 will feature an enhanced program on stranger safety as outlined by John Walsh and a meeting for parents to educate them on identifying the location of sexual predators living within their community.

            Each year, our director, our instructors and instructor aides are selected from qualified applicants who meet with the goals and objectives of the program. Many are pursuing a college degree or already have a career in education. The inside instructors, aides and outside instructors all follow the daily course schedule closely.  The collaboration of all staff members reinforces vital personal safety lessons vital in teaching children to become a more responsible young person.

      Thousands of dollars in monetary donations and supplies  by area business and organizations have allowed us continue this worthwhile program . This generous outpouring of community spirit has enabled us to continue this worthwhile program. This continuous support has enabled the Mansfield Division of Police to provide educators, instruction materials and crafts to reinforce daily lessons.

             The City of Mansfield, Safety Service forces, health services and area businesses loyally support Safety Town by providing special guests that provide hands on demonstrations for children in areas of fire safety, water safety and household safety. City Officials including the Mayor, Chief of Police and the Fire Chief participate in the program by handing out graduation certificates and shaking the hand of every child.

            Each year, parents register their children for Safety Town when the register their children for kindergarten. Three ten (10) day sessions were held from the third Monday in June to about the end of July at the Brinkerhoff Elementary School building for three hours each day with a total of five classrooms, five instructors and five aides.

            According to our current curriculum, each day of Safety Town has a safety theme. All instruction, crafts, songs, special guests and movies revolve around the theme. Each session begins with basic lessons including traffic light colors and learning left from right.  After those basic lessons are established, other lessons are emphasized including stranger and drug safety, animal awareness and when to call 911.

              Since its inception in 1937, thousands of children have participated in the Mansfield Safety Town. Currently about 300 children participate in the program each year. Hundreds of communities in the United States have set up a Safety Town or similar programs based on Mansfield’s lead. Nationally, thousands of children attend Safety Town programs each year. In addition, requests for information about setting up as Safety Town program have come in from all over the United States and the world including Germany, China and Japan. This has prompted the Mansfield Division of Police to create a brochure entitled, “How to Start a Safety Town in Your Neighborhood” in response to these requests.

            Safety Town is a project that has enjoyed wide community support and approval since its earliest days. Safety Town will hold a special place in the history of Mansfield; there is no doubt that such support and approval will continue for years to come.

PLEASE NOTE:

Brochures for Safety Town and Safety Town slide shows are PDF documents

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PLEASE NOTE:

• Volunteers in Police Service (V.I.P.S.)
• Police Athletic League (P.A.L.)

are PDF documents from the 2005 Annual Report

You will need Adobe 6.0 or higher to view