Kindergarten students get lesson in bus safety

By Jessica Hardin

jhardin@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Dozens of Boardman’s newest students lined up outside Stadium Drive Elementary to learn a necessary skill before starting school: riding the bus.

Kindergarten readiness program Success By Six hosted a bus safety day at each of Boardman’s elementary schools Tuesday to teach safety skills to the program’s more than 150 incoming kindergartners.

“It’s their first time riding the bus, and we want our kids to be safe,” said Missy Struharik, a Success By Six instructor and first-grade teacher at Stadium Drive.

Ryan Dunn, the district’s new transportation director, brought two school buses to the entrance of each school and taught future students how to watch for the driver’s signal, how to enter the bus and how to behave while riding the bus.

Success By Six, which is in its sixth year in the district, is a free program that teaches incoming kindergartners social, emotional, academic and fine and gross motor skills. Workshops are provided by the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley and federal funds.

“Everything is hands-on,” Struharik said. “The program even includes STEM,” the increasingly popular academic discipline that focuses on the intersections of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Success By Six also introduces children to their future school buildings.

“We want them to feel no pressure, no anxiety. We want them to be happy and comfortable coming to school,” Struharik said.

Success By Six started Monday at Boardman’s elementary schools and runs four weeks from 8:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday.