It's Amazing What You Learn

A resident called  on his cell phone. He was waiting for a bus. He'd read  about the contract for school crossing guards and had something he wanted to share.

He  worked in Vaughan when they signed a contract for the service. In one instance ,someone took the job of crossing guard who lived in the Beaches area.Had no car. Had to use public transit. Was given a map to show where he was expected to be.

The job is mostly an hour in the morning before school starts and another in the afternoon when school ends. In some schools, students don't go home for lunch

How could a person work an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon, live twenty miles away and depend on public transit?

I was curious so I made a call.

The contract service we have  is local.  Recruitment is within the neighbourhood. So that's alright.

But there's more. We have three long term crossing guards . Pay ranges from $14.92 to $16.13. Payment into the town;s pension plan is optional. If the option is taken the contribution is 6% each.

It's not a popular job. Rain, wind , snow, sleet and  sub zero temperatures are not to everyone's taste or ability to withstand.

A person looking for full-time employment might be glad to take the work but as soon as they land full-time employment  they leave. That's reasonable. But time spent recruiting, checking backgrounds, training is all wasted and must be repeated.

Using pay duty police  officers was tried. Theyhave to  be paid for  a minimum of four hours.The cost  was $500. for  an hour with 12% tacked on for administration. They had to be paid for each shift separately.

Procedures for issuing a cheque in a municipality to ensure everything is exact and proper is an elaborate process. Not nearly as simple as the former Mayor picking up the phone and retaining a solicitor on a whim every other week.

Contract  service for crossing guards is a bit more expensive than the town doing recruiting,hiring and adding to staff complement. But time saved in the process makes it even. A guarantee the crossing guard will be where needed is the added benefit.

There are ten crossing guards.Three are ours and seven from the contract service.

The school year is 196 days including two professional development days. That's 37 weeks. The hours
are a fraction of a work day. It calculates down to seventeen weeks.

The  contract  for seven crossing guards for three years is in excess of $300Ks.

The thought occurs; suppose  no contract service was available.  No person to be found willing to do the job. No matter how high the cost could go.

Who should be responsible for the safety of children crossing roads to get to and from school?

Supposing it became impossible to provide the service.

It simply came to an end ?

What then?