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Elementary students become road scholars

District 2 maintenance personnel are taking their safety lessons on the road, even though their target audience won’t be eligible for drivers’ licenses for more than a decade.

A program for elementary school students in Lewiston and Cottonwood introduced work zone and snowplow safety to third- and fourth-graders with the hopes the children will pass their knowledge along to parents before wintertime driving arrives.

ITD’s road scholars/instructors included Terry Holthaus, Phil Aranzamendi, Lennet Cantwell, Rod Parsells, and Richard Baerlocher. They have given presentations at several schools in the district, beginning with an assembly at Prairie Elementary School in Cottonwood Oct. 17. More than 100 students in kindergarten through fourth grade participated.

Another assembly followed on Oct. 20th at Orchards Elementary in Lewiston for children in kindergarten through third grades; 193 students attended.

The purpose of the presentation is to inform the students about safety, said Baerlocher.

ITD personnel discussed why they wear orange clothing and the meaning of the signs they use. They also explained:

• What an emergency is
• How and why they use flares instead of the signs at the time of an emergency
• How the snow plow and loader are used
• The use of the warning lights on the equipment
• What the back-up alarm sounds like and why it is on the equipment

They also cautioned students who use school buses on what to do when waiting for the bus during the winter maintenance activities.

After the presentation, they encouraged students to take a seat behind the wheel of a plow truck and front-end loader. Crews helped the students into and out of the equipment.

ITD personnel gave students coloring books following the formal presentation.