Act Now: Equitable Hiring for School Crossing Guards!
- clara
- March 21, 2022
Seattle needs crossing guards to help kids get safely to school - let's make it more equitable to hire them! Act now to tell the Seattle School Board to reduce barriers for hiring school crossing guards.
Crossing guards are critical to help kids safely walk, roll, and bike to school. Many guards are beloved pillars of their community and all of them serve in bad weather for little pay at locations that have been identified as dangerous.
40% of these critical posts are currently vacant and an upfront fingerprinting fee is an unnecessary barrier to many applicants. Crossing guard applicants are often on fixed incomes and frequently have to save up or wait for a monthly check to afford the fee, which slows down the process of filling these critical safety roles. The School Traffic Safety Committee is calling on Seattle Public Schools (SPS) to pay for the onboarding fingerprints rather than requiring crossing guard applicants to pay the $55 fee upfront. SPS already does this for other hourly staff. Eliminating this barrier would get more guards in place more quickly and help ensure that kids have help crossing dangerous intersections.
Send an email now to tell the Seattle School Board to reduce barriers for hiring school crossing guards.
Want to do more?
- Apply to join the City of Seattle's School Traffic Safety Committee.
- Learn more about Seattle Neighborhood Greenways' Safe Routes to School efforts.
- Sign up here to make sure you receive school-related updates in the future!
- Sign up to volunteer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and connect with us on Twitter or Facebook
- Make a donation to power our work
- Join us at Gas Works Park for our SNG Volunteer Picnic: Sat, March 26, 1:00 - 3:30 pm
Clara Cantor
she/her
Community Organizer
Seattle Neighborhood Greenways
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