The Greater Victoria school district has to find a new organization to run its crossing-guard program, now that Beacon Community Services has decided to bow out after about a decade — in part because of difficulty finding guards.
Beacon will stay on through the end of this school year, however, said district superintendent Piet Langstraat.
“That gives us until September to come up with a plan and a new strategy,” he said. “For us, I think the preferred approach is to find another community agency that would be willing to provide that service.
“But we’ll also be considering other alternatives if we can’t find someone to do the work.”
Langstraat said finding people to work two hours a day in split shifts is challenging in the current labour market.
Funding for the program primarily comes from municipal grants, Langstraat said, under a year-to-year application process.
There are a few exceptions: some parent advisory councils provide funding and businesses give donations to support crossing guards.
The Kiwanis Club oversees the crossing guards at 10 middle schools and has been part of the program since 1936.
Hundreds of middle-school students volunteer to take part in the Kiwanis effort, Langstraat said, while the rest of the program is run with paid adult guards.
Kiwanis also makes a monetary contribution that pays for most of the rain and safety gear needed for the program, he said.
An advertisement for crossing guards at Sir James Douglas Elementary suggested the jobs are good for someone such as a stay-at-home parent or grandparent. Pay is $20 per hour, which includes an $11.35 per hour wage and an $8.65 per hour honourarium provided by sponsors.
In the Saanich and Sooke school districts, employees perform crossing-guard duties. As in Greater Victoria, both count on funding from area municipalities.
