KEEPING KIDS SAFE. In just three hours' time, approximately 100 first-graders at Village Elementary School received their fingerprints, individual videos and even DNA samples through the Child Identification Project offered at no cost by School Resource Officer Scott Cogger, Parents Active with Schools (PAWS) and St. Aspinquid Masonic Lodge. Martha McCaddin, seen here, was one of the students to have her fingerprints recorded digitally in this new state-of-the-art version of an event that has been offered to first-grade families for about five years now. Carolyn Fountain of PAWS praised Cogger, the many parent volunteers and the Mason for making the event such a success. Cogger said that Village Elementary School Principal Ruth Dealy and her staff have been very supportive of the initiative, which provides families with items that could help them in the case of their child being lost or abducted. As he put it, the kits are created with the hope that they will never be needed, but in case of an emergency, each family will now have identification cards for their children, video documentation of their child's appearance, voice and mannerisms as well as DNA and fingerprints. Cogger said the goal is to continue offering the program to all future first-grade families who wish to be a part of it. The Child Identification Day is one of many programs geared toward safety and drug abuse resistance offered in partnership through the York Schools and the York Police Department. Other recent events included the visit of nationally acclaimed anti-drug and childhood safety educator and performer Retro Bill to the town's two elementary schools.
Photo by Jennifer L. Saunders