Posted: 5/25/05
Final Draft - by Cliff Buchan
Deemed inappropriate, seat belt awareness poster taken down
Most of us take the time to buckle in when we slide behind the wheel of our car. There may be an occasional lapse but a vast majority of us are using seat belts. Adult use is now at 82 percent, according to Department of Public Safety estimates, and thatís not bad. But it could better.
Weíve written far too many motor vehicle crash stories where fatalities were directly related to victims not being buckled in. Itís more painful when the victims are kids.
Weíve also documented local and county efforts to address seat belt use by youth. Six high schools within Washington County have teamed for just such a topic through the Safe Communities Coalition.
In our district, Students Against Destructive Decisions has been actively promoting and monitoring seat belt use by students.
The awareness issues are paying off. Chuck Moses, wellness coordinator for ISD 831, said a seat belt use survey last week found 87 percent of 404 student drivers wore seat belts compared to 82 percent just one month ago Front seat student passengers were buckled to the tune of 81 percent compared to 77 percent one month earlier.
A year ago the SADD survey found only 70 percent of drivers and 55 percent of student passengers used seat belts. The awareness program along with educational emphasis, parental expectations and peer influence are paying off positively, Moses says.
But from this desk, at least, it is a bit troubling that a Minnesota Department of Public Safety poster was found inappropriate last month and removed from the hallway walls at Forest Lake High School.
The poster shows a male student carrying books and wearing low-hanging, baggy jeans. Several inches of his boxer shorts are showing.
Any adult who ventures anywhere kids are found these days will recognize the visual.
The poster (also shown here) carries the message: Belts are optional, Seat belts arenít. The poster has been distributed statewide to high schools with the cooperation of counties. All six high schools in Washington County received the promotion.
Steve Massey, principal at Forest Lake High School, played the heavy and was assigned the task of removing the posters, or at least most of them. The one pictured here, for unexplained reasons, remained in the SADD display case near the main high school entrance last week.
Massey strongly believes in the need for youth seat belt awareness and supports the efforts of Moses and SADD. Massey, however, says the image in the poster portrays a violation of the student dress code.
And with the high school a building used for many community functions beyond the school day, there are other public concerns to weigh. ìWe have to take that into consideration,î he said.
He agrees that the questionable poster delivered a catchy theme to its youth audience. ìIt is an effective message to a teen audience,î he said. But when the dress code is factored, he said he would prefer to see seat belt awareness enhanced in other ways.
ìIt seems to be a contradiction,î Massey says of the poster.
Clark Quiring, the police chief and director of public safety in Forest Lake, agrees with the decision to remove the poster because it may be found inappropriate to some. Like Massey, Quiring agrees with the need to encourage seat belt use by young people, but with some exceptions.
ìThey (the school) have rules and expectations,î Quiring said. And what may be inappropriate here might well be perfectly fine in other communities, he said.
How this poster came to be removed may be another story, however.
Massey and Lynn Steenblock, superintendent of schools, said the poster was called to their attention by a school board member. Steenblock said he was questioned by the board member who felt the poster did not display appropriate student dress.
Both Steenblock and Massey declined to identify the school board member. Needless to say, the influence of one school board member was persuasive on the two high-ranking school officials.
Unless you have kids and fight the battle daily with how they dress or donít dress it may b e hard to understand the dynamics of what makeks some kids tick today.
For those of us on the outside who witness the hip-huggers and colorful boxers, we often roll our eyes and shake our heads.
But we also canít forget the days when we were young and what others may have thought of our clothes or how we wore our hair.
And it does seem wrong that we put at odds well-meaning county and school officials who are doing everything in their power to help young people learn positive lifestyles.
ìIt didnít reach my radar screen as inappropriate,î Moses said the other day. ìAll the high schools got the same posters. We are trying to reach kids. This is for kids. I didnít consider the dress code issue.î
Pat Galligher, coordinator of the county coalition this is working on many topics including seat belts, said last week she has heard of no local opposition to the poster from the other five high schools in Washington County.
ìItís all about kids wearing seat belts,î she said.
There is some irony in this poster issue that only came to public attention last week.
This order to remove the poster comes at a time when the school is surveying student seat belt use and the Forest Lake Police Department is announcing plans for saturation patrols that aim to crack down on all motorists and passengers who are violating the seat belt rules.
There is a contradiction here, too.
What makes more sense? Getting our hackles up over a picture that may not meet our likes and wants even though it speaks to the reality of kids today, or doing everything within our means to reach out to kids?
We need to think about that the next time an unbuckled kid goes flying through a windshield. Did we really do our best for the community?
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
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