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Community volunteer offers stranger-danger curriculum; asks district to meet about curriculum adoption
Summary
Raymond Patterson, a volunteer presenter, told the East St. Louis School District 189 board he offers a free "stranger danger" awareness program for pre-K to fifth-grade students and requested a meeting with the district curriculum coordinator to discuss implementation.
A volunteer who said he runs a free child-safety program urged the East St. Louis School District 189 board to consider adopting an in-school stranger-awareness curriculum.
"My name is Raymond Patterson. I have a free stranger danger awareness program, more than just strangers, for pre k to fifth grade elementary school students," Patterson told the board during public comment on Sept. 16, 2025. He said the program is currently operating in the district and asked to meet with the district's curriculum coordinator to discuss placement and implementation.
Patterson framed his request around preventing abduction and other harms. "One of the riskiest times that these children can go missing is on the way to school and the way home from school," he said, and recounted a case of a child abducted and murdered to emphasize the program's urgency. He asked, "What do we have in place to teach our children how to make it back to school on Monday when they left Friday?" and requested a meeting with district curriculum staff.
The transcript does not record a response from curriculum staff or a committed district action to adopt the program. No written curriculum materials or district review timeline were presented on the public record at the meeting.
