With less than two months until students return to school, Victoria city council voted Thursday to ask the Greater Victoria School District to take over the regional crossing-guard program.
The push for SD61 to take over the program follows the dissolution of the Greater Victoria Crossing Guard Association last month, following a four-year run as the co-ordinating organization for crossing guards across the region.
The association was only meant to be a three-year solution after the previous managing organization, Beacon Community Services, stepped down.
Council is asking that the school district take on operations itself, something the Saanich School District already does, providing a crossing guard service with annual funding from participating municipalities.
The District of Saanich, which has Greater Victoria School District schools within its borders, has already sent a letter to SD61 asking the school district to operate the crossing-guard program, and noting that the Saanich School District program could be used as a model.
During a committee of the whole meeting Thursday, Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps called the proposed takeover a “win-win scenario.”
In the past, the crossing-guard program was funded through municipal grants, which at times fell short and created uncertainty for the program’s future. In 2021, the association had to seek out an additional $50,000 to cover expenses after the city changed its funding stream.
But Greater Victoria crossing guards now have permanent, sustainable funding through the District of Saanich and the City of Victoria, which added the expense as a line item on its budget after the issues arose from insecure funding.
“We do need to continue to make [traffic-calming] investments around the schools, but this is, I think, a way to get the crossing-guard program stably funded in perpetuity,” Helps said Thursday. “And I hope our partners at SD61 are willing to work with both the district and the city to receive the funding and continue the services.”
Coun. Ben Isitt noted that a solution is needed before SD61 students return to school Sept. 6, and called for a backup plan.
“If for some reason we get a firm ‘no’ from the school district, I think the city needs to deploy its own employees to provide the services or provide the funds to a community partner to ensure there’s no interruption of service,” Isitt said.
At the June 20 Greater Victoria School District Board of Education meeting, superintendent Deb Whitten indicated that SD61 was in the process of gathering information and looking for a solution after the dissolution of the crossing-guard association.
Whitten said if no solution was found, the school district would look to add hours for educational assistants to monitor crosswalks.
On Thursday, city staff said they hadn’t yet heard from SD61 on the matter. The school district could not immediately be reached for comment.
City staff were asked to report back on the status of the proposal at the Aug. 4 council meeting.
