Students get lessons in safety
Staff writer
Students at Peabody-Burns Elementary school got a full day of safety lessons last week.
They learned about railroad safety, the importance of wearing seat belts, bike safety, gun safety, when to call 911, farm safety, stranger danger, fire safety, and pool safety.
Each student got a T-shirt to wear and a bike helmet to take home.
Safe Kids Camp began 20 years ago and has taken place every year except for two years when it was canceled because of COVID-19, according to sheriff’s deputy Jim Philpott, who coordinates the event.
All fifth-graders’ hands went up when dispatcher Bridget Meliza asked how many knew their address.
It’s important for a dispatcher to know where help needs to be sent, she said, and to know whether a caller needs police, a fire department, or an ambulance.
If students don’t feel safe speaking on the phone, they can text 911 instead, she said.
One boy asked, “If I call 911, does it go to Marion?”
If a caller hangs up, she will call back numerous times. If the caller doesn’t answer, she will send someone to the address.
Meliza described situations that could prompt a call to the dispatchers that might not be emergencies. People can call dispatchers at a non-emergency number, she said.
She had students form two lines and show her, by pressing “phone buttons” made of paper on a chalk board, whether the situation she described should be a 911 call.