GCS Crossing Guards

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Greenville City Schools has two crossing guards that are employed by the school district. One crossing guard is located at Ohio Street and Greenmoore Court. The second paid crossing guard is at East Main Street and Orchard Drive. The school provides another crossing guard as part of a duty for a school employee, which is located on Ohio Street in front of the school at Cambridge Avenue. All three of these cross walks are displayed with the cross walk marked on the road and with signs by street.

The speed limit on Ohio Street is 35 mph unless students are present. When students are present, it is dropped to 20 mph. Students are presence between 7 to 9 am in the mornings and 2:30 to 4:30 pm in the afternoon. The city has recently put up some extra lights on the sides to help drivers see that students are in the cross walk.

The speed limit on East Main Street is 25 mph all the time, but drivers need to be aware of students crossing at Orchard Drive with the crossing guard. Speed is a critical factor in allowing our crossing guards to do their job. A crossing guard cannot stop traffic in the sense that they order you to stop from the curb, but if a person is in the cross walk, a car must stop. This is according to Ohio Revised Code 4511.46.

Our crossing guards are trained to help students across the road. They wait for a break in traffic to enter the cross walk and stand in the middle of traffic, putting their body between students and vehicles. They get to know every child’s name, notices if a student has forgotten their backpack, they hurry tardy teenagers along and cheerfully wishes everyone a good morning and a good afternoon. They are at their post without fail, rain or snow, on frigid days and blazing hot ones.

Our crossing guards are wearing a bright vest or jacket with a blinking stop paddle that lights up. They stay in the intersection until all students have made it across the street. If you are stopped at a cross walk, please wait until the crossing guard gets to the curb.

Having an adult crossing guard is considered the “gold standard” in having students cross the road. Greenville City Schools is proud and lucky to have two Greenville citizens help with this very important duty. Working together, our students will be safe.

By Jeffrey Cassell

Contributing Columnist

Jeffrey Cassell is the Director of Administrative Services for Greenville City Schools. He may be reached at 937-548-3185, ext. 4012. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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