Three school crossing guard locations in the city will be eliminated.
Council committee made that decision Monday based on a staff review of four crossings that were found to have few people using them.
Staff had recommended crossing guards be eliminated from the areas of Brant and Laclie streets, Forest Avenue and the Highway 12 bypass, West Street at Orchard Park Public School, and George Street and Westmount Drive.
None of those locations met the provincial threshold for the minimum number of students — 40 during peak time — to warrant a crossing guard, staff reported. Some counts were in the single digits.
Councillors tried to make a case for keeping three of the four crossings.
Coun. Jay Fallis wanted the West Street crossing at Orchard Park to remain. He was worried removing it would lead to an increase in the number of students crossing at the busy intersection of West Street and Fittons Road.
“I really believe that’s an important one to hold onto,” he said.
Coun. Tim Lauer agreed.
“The numbers may be low, but there is a development planned for Fittons right beside Monsignor Lee,” he said, adding that project, as well as the county’s housing hub at West and Borland streets, once completed, could lead to a greater use of the Orchard Park crossing.
Lauer also asked that the crossing at Laclie and Brant streets be maintained, saying it will be important to have during the planned reconstruction of Laclie Street.
Coun. David Campbell then spoke out against removing the crossing at Forest Avenue and the Highway 12 bypass.
“It has the highest count and it’s a highway,” he said.
The issue has come up at a time when the city is struggling to recruit crossing guards.
In response to that shortage, the city has been placing “no crossing guard present” signs at some of the crossings in question.
Since the 2021-22 school year began, they have been posted one or two days per week at least one of the crossings.
Lisa Dobson, a transportation technologist with the city, said doing so presents liability concerns. She noted the City of Hamilton was ordered to pay $8 million because a child was struck by a vehicle when a crossing guard had left early.
“If there isn’t a crossing guard present and that sign is put up, there is that liability,” she said.
Despite efforts to recruit more crossing guards, there has been little response, and Coun. Mason Ainsworth said he hoped the staff recommendation to eliminate crossings would serve as a “wake-up call” for the community and encourage more people to apply.
He hopes there will be enough interest shown before council votes next Monday to ratify a decision.
Staff, however, aren’t as confident.
Human resources director Lori Bolton said a strong effort to recruit has yielded few results.
“I am not convinced that we are going to, from this conversation, get the applications that we are looking for,” she said.
“I really don’t think there is much more we can do at this point.”
Nancy Wilding, a health and safety officer for the city who is responsible for crossing guards, said the style of the shifts — an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon — is the “biggest obstacle,” especially for those who already have a job.
She also noted some crossing guards are “discouraged” when so few pedestrians use the crossings.
“They actually call themselves fresh-air inspectors. It’s really not satisfying for them to work there,” she said.
Council committee voted to eliminate crossing guards at three of the four locations recommended by staff. A crossing guard will remain at Forest Avenue and the Highway 12 bypass.
Staff were also directed to review all crossing guard locations in the city and report back prior to the start of the 2023-24 school year.
