Woonsocket Fire and Police to Cap Off Elementary School Weeks with “High Fives” for Students 

October 30, 2019 
 
Contact:  Nicole Haynes,  Woonsocket Fire Clerk     nhaynes@woonsocketri.org; 401-597-6660 
 
Woonsocket Fire and Police to Cap Off Elementary School Weeks with “High Fives” for Students 
 
 
Woonsocket, RI:  On Friday November 1, 2019 the Woonsocket Fire Department along with the Woonsocket Police Department will begin participating in a High Five Friday Program at Woonsocket Elementary Schools, starting with the Coleman Elementary School.  The objective of the program is to have the City’s public safety personnel maintain a weekly presence at one of the Woonsocket Elementary Schools and interact with students in an enjoyable, positive and instructive way.  
 
“I am proud of our Public Safety Officials as they continue to find new ways to build partnerships with the youth of our community,” stated Director of Public Safety Eugene Jalette. 
 
Each Friday, firefighters and police officers will come together at an assigned elementary school 15 minutes prior to school dismissal and assemble outside the doors of that school’s main lobby.  During inclement weather public safety officials will assemble inside of the school’s main discharge lobby.  When students are released, firefighters and police officers will give departing students a fun high five, low five, fist pump or old fashioned handshake, and connect with them in various ways such as wishing them a safe, happy weekend, congratulating them on how hard they worked in school that week, or answering their questions about what it is like to fight fires and crime.  
 
Fire Chief Paul Shatraw praised the High Five Friday Program as a “Great bonding experience between school kids and our public safety officers that will help build stronger community connections.”  Shatraw also guaranteed the presence of child favorite “Sparky the Firedog” at the High Five Friday events, as well as fire trucks and other apparatus. 
 
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt endorsed the High Five Friday Program exclaiming, “This is a great opportunity for our public safety officers to be a role model for our elementary school children and to do it in a fun and friendly way.  Being greeted by our police and fire personnel as they leave school may be the highlight of a child’s week and could inspire them to greater achievement in school or at home,” added the Mayor