Polk County Public Schools
Winter Haven’s Inwood Elementary recently hosted a Disaster Readiness Open House for the community. The title of the event was Mission 91:1. Students, their families, school neighbors and supporters saw detailed displays and received free emergency publications and books. The school communicated its readiness and management plans related to many kinds of disasters or crises and answered questions from attendees. The event included eight themed stations which encouraged parents and others to engage children in readiness plans and preparations. The school emphasized that having a plan and being ready relieves anxiety and offers more security when an extreme situation arises. Jenni Wilson, the school’s Title I facilitator, was the event organizer.
Lakeland’s R. Bruce Wagner Elementary tied-in instruction to National Walk To School Day on October 7. National Walk To School Day is a program of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The event is meant to bring awareness about physical fitness through walking and to teach pedestrian safety.
R. Bruce Wagner Elementary parent-teacher representatives and physical education staff taught students “walking safety” activities that included practice crossing the street, looking both ways, learning and obeying traffic signals and other pedestrian safety measures. National Walk To School Day instruction was continuous throughout the day for the school’s kindergarten through fifth graders.
Other Polk schools that had programs associated with National Walk To School Day included Lakeland’s Crystal Lake Elementary, Lakeland’s George Jenkins High, Highland City Elementary and Eagle Lake’s Lake Region High.
