By Callum Ludwig
Another Upper Yarra Primary School has been left stranded at the pedestrian crossing due to staff shortages.
Following Gladysdale Primary School’s struggles, Millwarra Primary School’s East Warburton campus has faced a similar situation.
Wellbeing Teacher at Millwarra Primary School Andy Bennett said teachers have been manning the crossing because they are not willing to let kids cross on their own.
“Kids come out on the Reefton bus that arrives at 10 past eight, dropped by the bus on the other side of the road, and need to cross Woods Point Rd with traffic that is not obeying the 40km/h speed limit for the most part,” he said.
“So our teachers are manning the crossing from 8am, a small school with small teaching staff, and that often means there’s only one teacher on the school grounds, and none if they are at the crossing.”
Woods Point Rd is the main road connecting the communities of Warburton and East Warburton to McMahons Creek, Reefton and beyond, with the school situated right on it.
Mr Bennett said he is really alarmed by the increasing number of schools in this situation.
“As teachers, we understand the need for risk assessments, and there are obviously some roads that are higher risk than others. No question about that. But I don’t think it’s good enough to just leave a crossing completely unsupervised,” he said.
“Woods Point Rd is by no means a low-risk crossing, in fact, I’d say it’s an extremely high risk crossing. In the afternoons, when the kids cross from the school side, there are blind spots to the right and the left.”
“Crossing supervisors are an absolute essential service, they’ve been around since the early 70s. I think we’ve got a real issue with kids and road safety, even more so than in the past. They need a safe, qualified person to help them across the road because without it we run the risk of the potential tragedy we face right now.”
Yarra Ranges Council said they are aware of the staffing issues and shortages of crossing guards at our local schools, both with Yarra Ranges Council employees and HOBAN, their contract provider.
Director of Planning Design and Development at Yarra Ranges Council Kath McClusky said part of the challenge for them is funding support from the State government to provide this service, which has gradually (but significantly) decreased over time making it unsustainable to continue in its current form.
“We ran a recruitment drive at the start of this year, and appointed 10 new school crossing supervisors to boost our staffing capacity,” she said.
“Yarra Ranges Council works with schools regularly to ensure we have open dialogue to address issues and concerns in relation to crossing supervisors, and all other road safety risks for school crossings. We currently have 3 risk assessments underway due to road safety issues and occupational violence, and now that life is returning to its previous pace, we anticipate these incidents are only going to increase.”
Yarra Ranges Council is currently running an employment campaign, ‘Your Reason, Your Ranges’, to help with staffing shortages across the Yarra Ranges, and position Yarra Ranges as a region of choice to help deal with staffing issues across the municipality and in all sectors seeking to fulfil employment gaps.
Ms McClusky said they hope the campaign will help fill the critical shortfall of employees across all industries, promote best practice workplace environments and publicise the Yarra Ranges as a world-leading place to work and do business
“We want a region where our local residents and those around us see the Yarra Ranges as a vibrant, aspiring, caring and growing business sector that offers opportunities for everyone, and that people are proud to be part of,” she said.
“Region of Choice is a long-term, circular approach to the employment challenges of the Yarra Ranges that has 4 distinct purposes: To increase employment participation, to promote employment in our region through destination-like marketing pieces, to create career pathways and to promote businesses and organisations that sign up to the Region of Choice Charter.”
Yarra Ranges Council encourages anyone who has some time in their day to speak to them or HOBAN about crossing guard supervisor roles as they’re available.
Anyone interested in a Crossing Supervisor position can call HOBAN recruitment on 9325 3200.
