A pair of school crossings in Ridgetown are on the chopping block again.
Crossing guards across the municipality were originally cut by council during their 2016 budget deliberations, but the positions were temporarily re-instated after several Chatham-Kent residents voiced concerns about student safety.
Municipal staff are now suggesting that the crossings at two locations in Ridgetown be removed altogether along with two others in Chatham and one in Wallaceburg. The report that's going to council says four of those crossings aren't busy enough to warrant a new crossing while one of them already has an all-way stop. Those cuts would take effect after November 2016.
At the same time, several other locations in Blenheim, Chatham, Tilbury, Wallaceburg, and Wheatley are in line to receive new pedestrian crossings that would include signs and lights. In order for crews to have enough time to properly design and install that equipment, staff are suggesting that crossing guards remain in place at those locations for the full 2016-2017 school year.
In Dresden, there is a unique proposal.
Staff are recommending that a crossing guard remain in place at the North Street crossing until the future of Dresden Area Central School (DACS) is a little more clear.
That's because on page 18 of its Pupil Accommodation Report for 2015/2016, the Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) tagged DACS for possible closure as the public school board considers reconfiguring Lambton-Kent Composite School (LKCS) into a Kindergarten to Grade 12 facility.
All of those recommendations on school crossings need council's approval to go ahead.
The recommendations follow a study that was done by the municipality's Engineering and Transportation Division, which took a closer look at each of the supervised crossings to determine if an alternate pedestrian crossing device was needed to replace the crossing guards that were cut.
Whether or not council gives the green light to those recommendations, each of the 12 crossings in Chatham-Kent that employed crossing guards at the end of the 2015-2016 school year are still slated to have them in place until November.
But even that isn't a guarantee.
In its report to council, municipal staff note that at the time they drafted their document, only 12 of the 20 full-time and backup adult crossing guard positions had been confirmed as "filled" for the September to November 2016 extension period. The report also notes that it's possible some of those positions won't be filled in time for the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
The cost of installing the new pedestrian crossings in Chatham-Kent and phasing out the current crossing guards is estimated at $312,700. However, the report also says that not having crossing guards at the locations with pedestrian crossings should save the municipality enough money on a yearly basis to pay themselves off in about 15 years.
You can find the full School Crossing Review Summary below:
A table included in a report that will go to Chatham-Kent Council on July 18, 2016.