Editor’s Note: The following column was written by former Sachem teacher Patrick M. Chierichella, who is the Educational Coordinator of The Rose Brucia Educational Foundation.
I was born a while ago in 1944. My generation is called either “war babies” or “the silent generation,” people who do not like to rock the boat. Seriously? Status quo types! Don’t question! Toe the line! Are they talking about me? Do the talking heads even know us?
Television was in its infancy. Pre-dinner shows consisted of Howdy Doody, Hopalong Cassidy, and serials. Of particular interest to me were those cliffhangers emanating from the cathode ray tube depicting the perils and derring-do of Flash Gordon. Even then, I knew (I saw it on TV, for goodness sake!) there was life out there. Sci-fi movie themes of the 50’s saw our world threatened by the inhabitants of Mars, by some creature named “It” that came from Outer Space, by “The Thing” , and of course by weird aliens in flying saucers! We knew we were not alone! Tacky, cheesy, and, of course, hyperbolic promotions inflamed imaginations to bring us all to the movies week after week to see the only plausible outcome for the human race: our survival and the defeat of all comers.
I’ve been fully involved with the Rose Brucia Educational Foundation for almost 4 years. We have the financial backing of many individuals through our fund raisers; if not for their generosity and belief in us, we could not attempt to fulfill our mission. During that time, I’ve worked with resolute individuals to help craft a curriculum of which I feel justifiably proud. Our educational format is non-pareil, truly unique. With little prep time, any organization, any school can take our lessons with the attendant lesson plans and provide introduction and/or reinforcement of stranger safety awareness principles and skills. Furthermore, I and my colleagues are confident that because our efforts are proactive, children will be better prepared to deal with avoiding abduction. We estimate five lessons per grade, lasting approximately 20-30 minutes per lesson (dependent on the depth the teacher pursues), would entail a maximum of 100 minutes for the entire school year. Consider the school year and remove days for national/state/local testing, field trips, etc., and you are probably left with 150 instructional days. School lasts at least 6 hours daily, or 360 minutes. Multiply 150 by 360 and you get 54,000 minutes of instruction. We believe this instruction will use up 1/540 of an educational year, or 1/10 of 1 percent of instructional time.
Here’s my problem. Until very recently, I have been awash in a sea of desperation concerning our program. Parents and educators are swamped with demands for quality time, focused learning experiences and performance demands on state and national tests. I appreciate the issues particular to their world. At the foundation, we score daily hits for downloads of our program. There is, as you would imagine, a noticeable spike in hits on our site the day of and the days after a kidnapping or an attempted abduction. There is nothing wrong with this. I’m just impatient to get our program out there. My enthusiasm gets drained by the disregard for our program. Sometimes I think we are carrying our own good fight in our own little bit of the country. Who knows about us? Who sees us as useful, necessary beyond family, our volunteers and our friends?
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