Camarillo : Volunteers to Serve as Crossing Guards

Despite concerns expressed by a school principal and a union representative, the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District board has decided to use volunteer crossing guards at a busy intersection.

In a move that will save the district $5,000, the cash-strapped school board agreed to use volunteers to help Camarillo Heights School students cross at Mission Drive and Daphne Street.

Until this year, Ventura County had paid the salary for crossing guards at the corner because Mission Drive is just outside the city boundaries. But county supervisors decided in July to stop paying crossing guard salaries in unincorporated areas.

Pleasant Valley school officials advertised for volunteers, and two residents, George Morton and Milton True, stepped forward.

Board members said they will ask Morton and True to rotate the job, which entails one half-hour in the morning and a half-hour in the afternoon.

When neither volunteer is available, Camarillo Heights teachers, parents or even school Principal Gerry Hamor will fill in.

Although Hamor has agreed to support the volunteer effort, he has urged the board to pay the $5,000 rather than risk children’s safety.

On Thursday, a union representative for school employees also warned the board against the volunteer program.

Larry Wear, associate director for Service Employees International Union Local 998, which represents Pleasant Valley’s school clerks and custodians, said that even the best-intentioned volunteers may not be as dependable as paid workers.

School officials said they will hire a crossing guard if the volunteer program doesn’t work.