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Crossing guards for Ladner school 'unwarranted'

The City of Delta is to once again fund the adult crossing guard program for schools but Ladner Elementary won’t be added to the list.
Ladner Elementary
A city transportation technical committee recommended against a crossing guard for Ladner Elementary.

The City of Delta is to once again fund the adult crossing guard program for schools but Ladner Elementary won’t be added to the list.

Council on Monday is to discuss an engineering staff report recommending a grant in the amount of $103,456 be provided to the Delta school district for the 2019/2020 crossing guard program. At total of 25 schools are covered and no changes are proposed in the number and locations of crossing guards from last year.

The report also notes a technical review was conducted at Ladner Elementary this spring and the findings indicated "that an additional school crossing guard is unwarranted at this time."

Earlier this year the board of education asked the city increase the number of school crosswalks attended by adult crossing guards by adding a morning and afternoon guard at the 44th Avenue school.

Last summer, parents voiced safety concerns about speeding vehicles near the school.

 

Jennifer O'Sullivan, who represented an informal group of parents and neighbours, had written to the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure seeking answers and safety measures in the area.

O’Sullivan said she and other neighbours had written to the city on multiple occasions in an effort to slow traffic, but had been told that money is not in the city’s budget.

“We have had the volunteer community policing come and do speed and radar checks where each and every check conducted over the years found that the majority of drivers do not obey the speed limit and, in fact, use excessive speed on the road at all times of the day,” O'Sullivan said in an interview at the time.

The school board also in 2017 requested additional adult crossing guards for Ladner Elementary. A technical review was conducted at that time as well but determined they were not warranted.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the school crossing guard program, a deal between the school district and city.

The deal saw Delta assume funding beginning in the fall of 1999 and the annual cost since then has been in the $100,000 range. Delta’s engineering department reviews sites on an annual basis and makes adjustments depending on traffic and other factors.