See also: An Afternoon Watching Those Watching the Kids
School Crossing Guards: Trained, Dedicated and Vital to Student Safety
You may only see them for a few hours every weekday, but they have one of the most important jobs in public service. School crossing guards and traffic control officers (TCO) are tasked with ensuring the safety of our youngest students as they enter and leave Pasco County elementary schools.
The Pasco Sheriff's office employs 26 school crossing guards and 14 traffic control officers at many elementary schools in the county and their jobs become more important as our area grows and the roads become more congested with vehicles hurrying to their destinations.
Why are they needed?
School crossing guards ensure children safely cross the roadway at schools or nearby intersections. Traffic control officers assist with vehicle control to ensure safe traffic flow. Bus transportation is NOT provided for students living within a two-mile radius of their assigned school. There are some exceptions for students with disabilities or specialized school programs. These employees are vigilant and trained to look for suspicious vehicles or persons in the area of their posts and know who to quickly report anything out of the ordinary. They are also provided with a listing and photographs of sexual offenders and predators who live within a three-mile radius of their assigned school.
Mandatory training ensures safety
Because their mission is so important to the safety of our children, school crossing guards and traffic control officers must undergo state-mandated training before they are hired and continue that training every year.
To be certified as a new school crossing guard, workers must complete 16 hours of employee orientation and classroom training mandated by the Florida Department of Transportation. Then they are hired into a substitute status and receive field training at various school posts three days per week for 10 weeks to ensure familiarity and proficiency at those schools they may be asked to cover. Traffic control officers receive the same training and are required to complete an additional 8 hours of classroom training for TCO certification.
All school crossing guards are required to have 16 hours of annual training to include re-certification and mandatory Sheriff's Office training. They are encouraged to complete an additional 8 hours of TCO training. All traffic control officers are required to complete 24 hours of annual training for re-certification and mandatory agency training.
Working conditions
School crossing guards and TCOs work about two hours in the morning and another two hours in the afternoon. During the school year, many schools have extended day programs that require them to work additional hours to ensure the safety of children walking home. School crossing guards and traffic control officers work in all weather conditions and are extremely dedicated to child safety. They work when school is in session for students, which includes 180 days during the regular school year and up to six weeks during the summer for Summer School and Summer Reading programs at participating elementary schools.
How well do they do the job?
The Pasco Sheriff's Office School Crossing Guard Unit was recognized in 2003 by then-Governor Jeb Bush as the School Crossing Guard Program of the Year. The members of this unit are a very dedicated group of men and women committed to ensuring child safety. This evidenced by the lack of injuries or accidents at any covered post in many years.
Who decides where they are assigned?
School crossing guards and traffic control officers are provided for elementary schools after a need is determined via a traffic survey conducted by the Pasco County Traffic Division and approved by the count Administrators Office. Although requests are received by some parents to place crossing guards at middle schools, they are currently only posted at elementary schools.
However, the number of needed positions designated by this process does not correspond to budgeted positions. New positions are submitted by the Sheriff in his annual budget request to the Board of County Commissioners. These new positions include what is needed to cover newly-authorized posts and projected positions that often arise when new schools open during the upcoming school year. Thus, the Sheriff's Office must often ask for funding to support positions for schools that aren't even open yet because the fiscal budget year of the county and Sheriff's Office does not coincide with the school year!
This is a real problem, as the Sheriff's Office has no control over the number of posts that are funded even though the county's traffic study determines that new positions are needed at specific areas around schools!
Substitute school crossing guards fill in as needed on those posts where someone calls in sick or is in training, but these positions are not budgeted. Since they generally work when someone is out, they are paid those funds that would go to the absent employee. However situations often occur that require additional coverage at a post in addition to the assigned staffing, due to traffic pattern changes, construction of special events. These individuals must, of course, be fully trained before they are allowed to work solo. Since they are not in a budgeted position, their training must be funded from the money that is allotted at the beginning of the fiscal year for "new" positions.
Join our team!
Starting pay for these part-time positions is approximately $9 per hour. There is always a need for applicants as school growth has been continuous in Pasco County and more than one person is needed for most elementary school. The need for these dedicated employees is especially high in the growing Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel area. For more information on the application process, please contact the Sheriff's Office's Human Resources section at 1-800-854-2862, extension 7791, or click here.
An Afternoon Watching Those Watching the Kids
by Doug Tobin, PSO Public Information Officer
You might be surprised if you spend a little time with those who help our kids safely cross the street. Some people think, "How hard can it be to work as a school crossing guard?"
I recently spent an afternoon with a group of school crossing guards and a traffic control officer keeping a watchful eye out for the dozens of kids making their way home on the busy and potentially dangerous roads within two blocks of Deer Park Elementary School in New Port Richey.
In front of the school is Trouble Creek Road, which has a constant flow of intimidating traffic coming off congested Little Road just two blocks away. Elementary school children who walk home are assisted through these two intersections by five school crossing guards. The school also has one traffic control officer directing traffic and helping parents pick up and drop off their children. It's the training these individuals receive from the Pasco Sheriff's Office that help to keep the children and themselves safe everyday.
On this day, at the first intersection of Trouble Creek and Cecelia Drive, the corners were manned by John Walsh, Joan Watson and Mary Moser, who have a combined 10 years experience working as school crossing guards. I spoke with several of the crossing guards about their mission of keeping kids safe. Before their shift, the gathered at a corner, topping each other with stories of close calls and impatient motorists. Joan told me how John had a close call just the week before.
"I was right at this corner when a mother who just picked up her child was making a right turn," recalled John Walsh. "I guess she was looking at the kids coming out of school and didn't see me standing in the roadway. It was a close call that left John unscathed, but it is a hazard of being on the roadway every school day."
This group of school crossing guards must keep a watchful eye on the traffic. Before school lets out, they escort parents with baby strollers and younger children anxious to see their playmate siblings return home after a long day at school. After the bell rings, the corners where the crossing guards stand are filled with kids eager to make their daily journey home. Making sure they get home safely is a big job.
Children walking down the sidewalk at the intersection of Little Road and Trouble Creek meet the friendly faces of Randa Girgis and Joe Falotico, who together have a combined crossing guard experience of 17 years. As they wait for the light to turn, Randa asks the kids about their day while always keeping a watch for danger. Some kids stay at the corner and wait for their parents to pick them up. Randa gives them a reassuring wave and watches them get into the cars.
Randa said most of the motorists are respectful and understanding, but adds how just a few minutes earlier somebody had made an inappropriate gesture at her, apparently upset over being stopped at the cross walk. "Maybe they felt I was keeping traffic tied up too long," she said as children continued to cross the road, two in cheerleader outfits, one walking a bike and two others walking with their book bags over their shoulders. "But you have to make sure they cross safely before you let the cars go," said Randa. "Sometimes the motorists get upset."
The kids waited patiently for the light to change and their turn to cross. They all seemed to be well instructed on the do's and don't of crossing a busy intersection. Surprisingly, there was little horse play, a credit to the crossing guards for keeping the kids focused and making safety almost second nature.
After a couple of hours successfully keeping children safe, it was time for the five crossing guards to pack up their stop signs, bright orange gloves and go home. As I was walking back to my car thinking of the friendly, high-spirited crossing guards I had just met, my thoughts were interrupted by the eerie sound of a car skidding to a halt.
I looked back to where John Walsh was picking up his safety cones, and there right under the flashing yellow "School Crossing Sign" was a car that apparently had not seen the sign or John for that matter. Fortunately, John saw the car first and got out of the way. The second close call in just a couple of weeks. For John and his fellow co-workers, it was all a part of an afternoon watching the kids.