Mayfair parents
step up for safety

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

While people usually think of Town Watch members patrolling at night, another arm of the organization’s volunteers can be seen wearing Town Watch vests outside Mayfair School and about 50 other elementary schools during openings and dismissals.
Under the direction of Town Watch Integrated Services, 10 men and women participate in the Mayfair School’s Safe Corridor Program, ensuring the safety of the school’s 830 students as they arrive and leave the school each day.
Until about two months ago, arrivals and dismissals were disorderly. Youths were fighting after school, and parents were double-parking when dropping off and picking up their children.
With seven school exits and only a handful of staff to cover them, Mayfair’s new principal Roberta Besden needed assistance.
She brought up the problem at a 15th Police District Advisory Council meeting a few months ago. Chad Enos, a recruiter/trainer with Philadelphia Operation Town Watch, raised his hand at the meeting and later discussed the program with Besden.
Enos attended a home and school association meeting at the school and challenged the Mayfair parents to get involved with the Safe Corridor Program.
The program originally sought to protect a route that children take home, for instance in the northwest part of the city where students were being attacked and money taken, according to Enos.
"We formed a safe corridor with police and parents. As it evolved in some particular schools, we covered hot spots or several different pockets. I let parents tell me where they’re having the most problems," Enos said.
Besden was familiar with the Safe Corridor Program from her tenure at Hamilton Disston School. The Tacony school was unsuccessful in keeping the program going more than a few weeks.
This group of parents was different.
"The parents could have complained and sat back and called the district, but they said our kids are part of the problem, and we need to fix it," Besden said.
According to Besden, Mayfair parent Lynn Plata is out every single day — every morning and every afternoon.
Another Safe Corridor mom, Doreen Groves, has four children — in the second, third, fifth and eighth grades — at Mayfair School, at Princeton Avenue and Hawthorne Street. She volunteers all day at the school, so becoming involved with the Safe Corridor Program was just a natural progression for her. Her afternoon post is usually in the school yard.
"I’m sure it makes parents feel safer. The kids know they can come to me if they can’t find their mom or sister or whoever was going to pick them up, or if there’s a problem," she said.
The men and women volunteers are also outside at 8:15 every morning, making sure no one is double parking, and they are able to walk the students into the school yard after they’re dropped off.
"They are an excellent group to work with," Enos said.
The school now has 10 volunteers, who attended four hours of training on observation skills, communication, the 911 emergency system, patrolling, radio use, first aid and working with young children. Background checks are also performed.
"The Safe Corridors Program is really part and parcel of our overall school safety initiative," said Jim Golden, chief safety executive for the School District of Philadelphia.
"We encourage individual schools to build the program and engage local stakeholders. You need volunteers, and you have to have people dedicated and committed to being out there during the critical time of entry and dismissal."
For more information, call 215-686-1459. ••
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com