COMMUNITY
Stop Sign Superheroes
AMA’s School Safety Patrol engages students in community safety while instilling confidence and skills.
By Meaghan Archer
Patrollers position themselves at a crosswalk, ready to help fellow students and community members cross safely. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF JASON SAWATZKY
EVERY MORNING, Grade 5 student Hazel G.B. and her peers take to the crosswalk outside Calgary’s West Dover School, reflective safety vests on and traffic signs gripped purposefully in hand. As a lead patroller in AMA’s School Safety Patrol program, Hazel gets to call the shots from the sidewalk — it’s one of her favourite parts of the job. “I have a loud voice,” she says, giggling with pride.
The program, first dubbed the “Schoolboy Patrol Club,” was started in Calgary in 1937 by Haultain School Principal Reg Llewellyn Harvey to quell his fears about the safety of his students. By 1938, AMA took over the program, which had until then been led by the Calgary Police Service. AMA expanded the program into Edmonton and eventually to schools across the province. Now, more than 400 schools and more than 12,000 patrollers in Alberta take part in the program.
Jason Sawatzky, who teaches Grades 4 through 6, is West Dover’s patrol supervisor — a position he’s proudly held for 15 of the 20 years he’s been at the school. Every September, he holds an information session for Grade 5 and 6 students and their parents — and there’s never a shortage of interest. More than a third of the school’s Grade 6 students (45 to 50 kids) signed up for School Safety Patrol this year, and there are 18 students trained and ready to patrol the school’s crosswalk.
Sawatzky explains that there is always an opportunity for a student who isn’t ready to work the crosswalk to take on other tasks that benefit the program and the individual. Take, for example, one student who doesn’t want to go out on patrols, so instead, he supervises and cleans up the area when the patrol is done. “Having them do other roles helps them build confidence to come out [to the crosswalk],” Sawatzky says.
Hazel’s mom, Summer G., couldn’t agree more. “I think it’s great for the kids. I think it helps them find their voice. It brings them out of their shell a bit more.”
“I think it’s great for the kids. I think it helps them find their voice. It brings them out of their shell a bit more.”
Patrollers are proud to take their posts at crosswalks, bus drop-offs and any other areas where extra safety is needed. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JASON SAWATZKY
At its core, School Safety Patrol has always been about building and fostering safe communities, which includes instilling a sense of responsibility, self-assurance and leadership in the patrollers. Over the course of the year, Sawatzky observes the patrollers’ confidence build, watches them grow as individuals, and witnesses the ripple effect that has on the atmosphere in the classroom. Some start out a little shy, “but by [spring] they’re reminding me of things,” he says, laughing. “They’re so much more engaged in the process. They’ve gone from these little beginners to these advanced leaders. [Our school’s adult supervisors] don’t really need to be out there, but we need to be out there,” he adds, hinting not so subtly at the high level of responsibility and pride the students take in their patroller roles.
Summer has certainly seen a change in her daughter since she started participating in the program at the beginning of the school year in 2024. An outgoing and determined little person, her daughter is “the type of kid that puts 100 percent into everything she does,” Summer says. And while Hazel’s never shied from taking initiative, “she’s learned that when she says she’s going to show up for something, that she really stays committed, even outside of school.”
Kids are also known to mirror their mentors, and leadership has a trickle-down effect. Sawatzky makes sure to let the patrollers know they’re appreciated and rewards their participation with his own creation, unique to West Dover School: The Patroller Awards. At the school’s monthly assembly, he chooses “patrollers of the month” who are awarded a golden stop sign in front of the whole school. Hazel’s already been dubbed “patroller of the month” five times.
“Generations of families have been coming here and doing patrols. Patrollers is one of those things that students remember about elementary school,” says Sawatzky. He remembers being a patroller himself. “You were the king of the castle. You were leader of the school, the boss of the street.” It builds confidence, and School Safety Patrol is an experience he wants to be a cherished part of their school years. AMA
Tiffany Rolls enjoyed this year’s patroller appreciation picnic in Edmonton on June 6. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF TIFFANY ROLLS
FULL CIRCLE
There’s something about being a patroller that never leaves you — at least that’s the case for Tiffany Rolls. A patroller at Meyokumin School in Edmonton in the early 1990s, Rolls says her fondest memories of her time as a patroller were the celebration picnics at the end of the school year. Each spring, AMA hosts patrollers and teachers at big events, like picnics and pool parties, across the province to thank them for their participation and dedication. Rolls, who now works for AMA, has attended more than 20 picnics as a volunteer.
“I have a memory of attending a picnic at Kinsmen [in Edmonton]; it was pouring rain, and we were out directing buses,” she recalls. “There was a group of girls from a school who were creative and made an umbrella fort under some trees, and they invited me to join them so I could get out of the rain! It was cute.”