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JAMESTOWN – A new push is underway in Jamestown to hire crossing guards at every public school, in an effort to increase traffic safety for students.
The Jamestown Police Department is working with Jamestown Public Schools to initiate a new crossing guard program. Chief of Police Tim Jackson tells WNY News Now the goal is to hire crossing guards at all school locations.
“We met with the superintendent of the Jamestown schools, we came to an agreement, that is a fair agreement compensation wise for new crossing guards,” explained Chief Jackson
The program is going to be administered by JPD, but the funding for the new positions will come directly from the school district. In the past the low wages and hours deterred potential hirees, but Chief Jackson hopes this will change.
“We’re hoping to attract a lot more crossing guards because we’ve had a problem recruiting crossing guards at the current wage,” stated Chief Jackson. “And it makes it a lot better option for them to do that job now.”
Recently there have been many car accidents involving school children, according to Chief Jackson this is just one of the many reasons why crossing guards are needed.
“Oh definitely it has an impact on it, also there’s very busy intersections around some of the schools, like Love School, very busy intersection,” explained Chief Jackson. “We definitely need a crossing guard there, as well as the other schools.”
Currently, there are only a few districts within the city that have crossing guards.
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