Paradise hiring guards for school crosswalks

By Chris Lewis | Aug. 13, 2020

The crosswalks in and around Paradise’s elementary schools are about to become much safer.

The Town of Paradise has in the past discussed the possibility of setting up a crossing guard system to help alleviate safety concerns around its four elementary schools. Now it’s acting on the idea. Councillor Sterling Willis said the program will help ensure the town’s youngest residents are safe during their time spent going to and from school.

Willis said the Town has been in talks with parents and school officials for some time about concerns related to student safety. Following those discussions, council allocated monies for the introduction of crossing guards in its 2020 budget.

“The Town is now advertising for interest in filling these positions,” Willis said. “This has been an ongoing request from residents and schools, so council decided to do this program to make sure students are safe when they’re crossing the crosswalks … It’s a good thing that we’re doing, it’s going to be a lot safer for the young students.”

Mayor Dan Bobbett was happy to hear progress is being made with the program.

“This is an issue that’s really important to the Town,” he said. “School is about four weeks away – we’re halfway through 2020 already. Given the current pandemic conditions, we’re looking forward to seeing how exactly this is going to roll out.”