HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-47-91 TRE CORPORATION OFTI IE TOWN OF NEWCAS f LL
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Meeting General Purpose and Administration Committee File 11
Date February 18, 1991 Res it'
By-lewlf,
Report it PT)-47-91 File --H-2-E. 15
Subject POLICIES RELATED TO SCHOOL CROSSING
GUARD NEED
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and
Administration Committee recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report PD-47-91 be received;
2 . THAT Council approve the policies for determining the need
for School Crossing Guard as contained in Report PD-47-91 .
3 . THAT Report PD-47-91 be forwarded to the Northumberland and
Newcastle Public School Board and the Peterborough,
Victoria, Northumberland and Newcastle Separate School Board
for their information.
1. BACKGROUND
1. 1 The Town of Newcastle has been responsible for the provision
of School Crossing Guards including personnel recruitment,
providing remuneration and equipment. The cost of this
service comes from general tax revenue and the 1990 total
operating budget for operating the crossing guard program is
$95,000 .
1. 2 The Town currently has a total of 17 crossing guards on
payroll and their patrol locations are distributed as
follows:
Bowmanville 9
Courtice 3
Newcastle Vlg. 2
REPORT NO. : PD-47-91 PAGE 2
Newtonville 1
Rovers 2
1. 3 From time to time, Council and staff receive requests from
the School Board or from local residents for crossing guard
services . In the past, these requests were sometimes
addressed by Council and sometimes addressed by staff.
1.4 Issues related to request for school crossing guards is
often sensitive and rightfully so as it pertains to the
safety of the school children. It should be noted that
every time a crossing guard is introduced, it places
financial burden on the tax base for such service. Given
the hundreds of intersections in the municipality that
involve some degrees of school children crossing activities
it is prudent that crossing guard service be provided where
there is a need of it. As a result, policies must be
developed to ensure the Town is consistent in its approach
and more importantly, the tax dollar is spent in a
responsible manner.
2. DETERMINATION OF THE NEED OF CROSSING GUARD
2 . 1 The Transportation Engineers Association has developed a
methodology to determine the need for crossing guard service
by carrying out a crossing guard need study. This need
study approach is used in many municipalities including the
City of Oshawa. Staff have now acquired the training and
are capable to carry out this type of study.
2 .2 Briefly, the Crossing Guard Need Study requires field survey
to collect key data. These include, at any particular
crossing and at a specific time span (eg. 8: 15 a.m. - 9:00
a.m. ) information on the number of school children crossing
the roadway, the size of the grouping of children, the width
REPORT NO. : PD-47-91 PAGE 3
of the roadway, volume of vehicles, as well as various time
gaps between vehicles passing through. This data is fed
into prescribed formula to arrive at the percentage of time
within the study period where crossing by school children is
deemed to be undesirable.
2 . 3 The Crossing Guard Need Study recommends that a crossing
guard be placed where the percentage to time for unsafe
crossing reaches approximately 70% . It is noted that the
70% is a suggested guideline and the municipality can set
its own standard.
3. RECOMMENDED POLICIES
3 . 1 That it is the policy of the Town to provide school crossing
guard upon request where the result of the crossing guard
need study indicates a minimum 50% of the study time where
school children crossing is deemed to be unsafe at any
crossing location.
3 .2 That any crossing guard request be referred to the Director
of Planning and Development to determine its need based on
findings from a school crossing guard need study.
4. CONCLUSION
It is the role of the staff to administer the school
crossing guard program and in so doing, the staff must be
guided by Council 's direction or policies and it is prudent
that Council approve the policies contained herein.
Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation
to the Committee
---";f, 14�
Franklin Wu, M.C. I .P. La r nce . Kotseff
Director of Planning Chief A nistrative
and Development Office
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*Attach
7 February 1991