Praise to the AAA Safety Patrol Boys of Yesteryear

AAA School Safety Patrol Boy

I wanted to take the time to give a shout out to all of the AAA Safety Patrol of the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. Not taking away from the modern day Safety Patrol, but it was a lot different then than it is now.

Palaski School No. 8 in Passaic NJ, in the early 60’s was a different time. You had to be at least in the 4^th  grade and our ranks had 18 Patrol Boys , two Sgt, one Lt, One Capt and a Chief, who manned the corners of urban Passaic in rain, snow, sleet, hail. The Officers,  Chief, Captain, Lieutenant and Sergeants had yellow belts to distinguish them and had to be 5^th graders (the highest grade in our school) and their job was to check all of the other posts to make sure we were there and doing our job. We also had a Quartermaster who took care of the equipment , rain gear, flags, etc. He had the normal regular duties and had a silver Patrolman badge BUT he wore a yellow Officers belt and was consider an officer

In the school as well as manning the streets, we had Patrol Boys at certain doors to open and close them for the little kids, but we had "Monitors" in the school itself to watch the halls.  The "Monitors" had a similar program like the Patrol Boys but not as organized and managed.

I don't know if this was unique to NJ, but we had a "Chief" in addition to the other officers and whomever was Chief made sure the other officers did their job. It was a REAL chain of command!   We use to go on trips especially for the patrol boys.The other Passaic schools we met on the trips had Patrol boys and THEY also had a Chief. The Patrol Boys were big back then, even the Catholic Schools had Patrol Boys. Although we could have, we didn't have girls back then and I can't recall if our badges said "School Safety Patrol" or "School Boy Patrol" but we called ourselves "Patrol Boys". 

On bad weather days we came in early and grabbed the yellow raincoats and hats and went out to our designated corners (up to 9-10 blocks away) almost up to the old Passaic High School. The raincoats and hats reminded me of the the old sailors raingear. A "Maggie May" cap which was like a down turned Sailor hat and the raincoart was long and bulky. Can you imagine today? A fourth grader standing in the middle of the streets in Passaic, with their back turned to traffic and stopping cars!! No signs, no uniform just a white belt across your chest gave you the authority to control traffic and people paid attention. We were the first ones up and ready and the last to get home after school. At the end of the shift when the school bell rang in the morning, the Patrol Boy closest to the school yelled down the block, “DISMISSED” and each corner would relay and yell it down to the next until it reached the furthest corner. Many years later while driving home from a sales call I heard the “DISMISSED” being yelled out and it brought a smile to my face. When I bothered to look around, I saw these little kids with orange (ours were white) belts with badges leaving their assigned posts. I thought, were WE  that young to have such a responsibility? I couldn't believe we did that at so young an age. I remember being the biggest kid around!!!!!  

Normally to become a Patrol Boy, you were recommended by someone  and we had  rules that WE enforced and followed. Another way was if a Patrol Boy asked you to "sub" for him a few times. “Subbing” meant that you wore someone’s belt temporarily if they were sick or out for the day and you  took over their post (you didn’t get the badge, the “real” Patrol Boy wore that on his belt over his pants pocket while he was not on duty. It was cool to be a Patrol Boy if you haven’t guessed). At the end of the “duty” or day, you gave it back to whomever you were subbing for. If you didn't report for duty too many times or had too many subs for no good reason, you were fired. Believe or not., those decisions were left to the Chief and Captain the fifth graders! We actually ran our own program (obviously under the eye of the Principle)  

We practiced marching, we participated in parades representing our school against other schools in a contest. In fact , the school who won the marching contest on memorial day ( it was a county wide contest)  went to the State Marching Competition sponsored by AAA.I don't know if there was a National Marching Contest.  We had other duties too. We kept kids in the playground, we had the responsibility of bringing little kids home or escorted kids home when they were sick and delivered them to their parents and we watched the little ones from one corner to the other making sure nothing happened to them. In those days, it wasn't unusual for teachers and their class to walk to their destination in the city.  2-4 Patrol Boys and a Patrol Boy Officer  were assigned to accompany the class and teachers to wherever they were going. We would run up ahead and stop traffic and wait until the class crossed, and then run up to the next corner and do the same thing. It was real work and a lot of responsibility for 4th and 5th graders. Some trips were over a mile away and about 20 or 30 blocks!

In the Mornings, the mom's would walk their kids to the corners where we were stationed and entrust  their kindergarten and first graders to us. Each Patrol Boy would watch the little kids until they were spotted by the Patrol Boy on the next block. I remember one incident when a car stopped in the middle of the block and another 4^th grade Patrol Boy, my friend Gary Fuller ran down the block and picked up rocks as he screamed and threw them at the guy. We always had two Patrol Boys on a 4 way block and then I ran down screaming too. The other boys from the next block saw and heard us and they came running. By that time people were coming out of their houses looking to see what was going on.

I would like to tell you that we stopped a kidnapping or a child molesting but we didn’t. We pelted the father of the little kids and broke his car window. The poor guy wanted to say goodbye to his kids before going to work. When we reported to the Principal (who was in charge of the Patrol Boys) a Mr. O’Shea he apologized to the father but he held his ground and protected us and supported us and said the Patrol Boys take charge of the Kindergarteners from one corner to the other. Mr. O’Shea paid for the car window out of his own pocket and said we did a fine job. We stood tall that day. We were the proudest 4^th graders in the school and every teacher gave us praise and said we did a good job.

At the end of the year, we voted and picked our officers and Chief for the next year by secret ballot and the school let us without interfering. I can proudly say I was elected Chief. It was a dream I always wanted. I was liked and I guess respected. Unfortunately my dreams were shattered when my mom said we were moving out of the city. I even cried to my mom and said I was going to be Chief next year and didn’t want to move. My mom said she was sorry but getting out of the 6^th Street Projects was a good thing. It was a good time and one I didn’t feel again until I joined the Marine Corps.

This will help you to understand the times. We didn’t have Black and White or Puerto Rican or Chinese. We had “Poor”. It didn’t matter who was screaming that day, everyone who heard came out to see if they could help. white, black, red or  yellow  it didn’t matter. Just a note: We all ate together and were watched by whoever s mom was home at the 6th Street Projects. There was  Lester and Sandy Poole, Timothy Hogan, David Nelson, Kevin and Bobby Hill (now Hesson Hill) , Shelia, Gregory and Larry Sessoms, Gerald and Stacy Pyron, Joby, Jerome and Walter Horn, Charlie Brown, Gary Fuller. We all ate in each others homes and ALL mothers smacked and hit you when you were bad. Poor was poor and color and race didn’t matter then. Have to give a shout out to Butterball(James Jiles), Andrew Ward, Romeo, Baba from the Aspin Street Projects and the Passaic Boys Club & Camp Ocawasin in New Jersey.

I would like to hear from anyone who is/was a Patrol Boy/Girl/Person and their memories.