NEWPORT BEACH : Realtors Sing Praises of Safety to Students

Students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District received a crash course in safety from some unlikely educators last week in a program called “Safety Through Songs,” presented by the Newport-Mesa Assn. of Realtors.

Members of the realtors’ board, led by President Stan Sax, spent a few hours in district schools distributing combined songbook/coloring books and singing with the students to help promote safety skills.

The realtors brought books and song cassettes to first-grade students at every school in the district andmade presentations at Kaiser Elementary and Harbor View Elementary schools.

The weeklong program was part of a national safety awareness campaign sponsored by the National Assn. of Realtors, which coordinated distribution of the songbooks and cassettes.

Realtors went from classroom to classroom singing songs with the first-graders and encouraging them to sing along and learn the safety tips.

“What is a pedestrian?” was a favorite tune, a simple song explaining important guidelines about walking near traffic.

“When you want to cross the street, look both ways. Cars can come so very fast, look both ways,” were the opening lines to another tune, “Look Both Ways.”

Other songs informed children about crossing streets, taking care in talking to strangers, wearing seat belts and bike-riding safety.

The realtors encouraged the students to color the pictures in the songbook and compete for a movie ticket. The prize will be awarded to each school for the child whose book is judged to be colored the best.

The children also received a brief course in real estate when the realtors introduced themselves and asked: “Do you know what a realtor is?”

“When your parents purchase a house in a new neighborhood, they’re very concerned that you get to and from it safely,” Joyce V. Hickey, a member of the board’s community relations committee, told the children.

Hickey added that she was especially concerned about children accepting rides from strangers, and wanted that message to hit home with the children.

“It’s unfortunate the youngsters have to be wary of strangers, but they do,” she said.