Hello fellow Anash Member,
I hope I find you all in the best of health.
Please be aware that there are many parents on "patrol" looking for suspicious faces outside our childrens' schools during dismissal. We ask that you do the same. The more eyes and ears we have, the more secure our children will be. Please join us in keeping our kids safe by following a simple set of guidelines...
If you notice an unfamiliar face lingering outside your son or daughter's school, please approach them and ask them nicely if they need help, or are lost, or if they are waiting for someone. If they are waiting for someone try to find out if it is a student, and try to find out the name of the student they are waiting for. In most cases, it will just be someone you don't know doing carpool for one of our friends/neighbors, but making conversation with another Jew is always a good thing.
There was an incident yesterday where three teenagers were lingering outside the school, and when we asked them these questions, they got defensive and got out of their car saying:"yeah yeah, we are arab, you have a problem with that?". We immediately called the police, and it turns out that bh' they were just immature Jewish teen-agers. This leads me to my following comment... Please tell anybody picking up your children from school that if they are being asked to identify themselves, to just answer the questions. We are not singling anyone out because of the way they look. We are just speaking with unfamiliar faces. Don't forget that even an Arab can put on a black hat and a jacket and can blend in our crowd. We are not taking any chances. All unfamiliar faces will be spoken with no matter what they are wearing, or no matter how they look.
Always trust your instincts. If you see something suspicious, do not hesitate and call 911. The officers have told me to tell the community that anytime you feel something is not right, call them. Better safe than sorry.
Please, let's work together to keep our kinderlach as safe as possible.
Thank you,
A parent on "patrol"
