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Show School board endorses plan to warn students about child molestation Following a presentation by the Park City task force on child molestation, the Board of Education voted unanimously to endorse the group's program recommendations. recom-mendations. Ann Jackman of the Parley's Park Elementary Ele-mentary School PTA gave the board a brief synopsis of the "Patch, The Pony" and "I'm In Charge" programs. pro-grams. The "Patch, The Pony" f ilmstrip and its accompanying accompany-ing cassette tape focuses on the dangers of accepting gifts or rides from strangers and is geared for preschool through second grade classes. "I'm In Charge" addresses problems children might encounter with people they know and can be adapted to elementary through middle school-aged children. The script for the program was developed by the Rape Crisis Center in Salt Lake City. The Task Force has estimated esti-mated that it would cost $4,300 to implement the programs at the Parley's Park Elementary School during the coming school year and those funds have already been approved by the County Commission. Members of the task force include: Summit County Sheriff Fred Eley; L.D.S. Bishop Mel Flinders; PTA President Ann Jackman; Billie and Ike Koleman; Lutheran Pastor Dave Krue-ger; Krue-ger; City Councilwoman Tina Lewis; Chamber Bureau President Jess Reid ; and Utah State Social Services Ser-vices Program Coordinator Jim Wheeler. Though there has been no incidence of reported child molestation in the Park City area, Wheeler suggested that the programs would serve to "inoculate" local children against possible abuse. "Just because we don't know about it doesn't mean it's not happening," he warned. Parley's Park Elementary School Principal Linda Singer said that the "I'm In Charge" program, which was presented at the school last year, was "very successful." suc-cessful." Board member Ralph Hale commented that he endorsed the program "wholeheartedly." Board President Gary Avise expressed some reservations re-servations about how much time would be taken from other curriculum subjects for the program but added that he was in favor of the task force's recommendations. recommenda-tions. In the final motion, Nancy McComb stated that the board endorsed the programs as recommended by the task force and that their implementation would be left to the discretion of the school administrators and staff. The program materials mate-rials will be available to the students' parents before the programs are presented in the classroom. |