By Jessica Anstice
With most students learning from home, the City of Casey has decided to suspend its school crossing supervisors for the duration of Stage 4 coronavirus lockdown.
But not everyone was happy with the council’s decision to leave school road crossings unattended from Thursday 6 August.
One lollipop lady, who did not wish to be named, is concerned for the safety of the handful of essential workers’ students who have no choice but to continue to attend school through the lockdown.
“The students of essential workers aren’t being looked after and my concern is the safety of these kids who are still going to school,” she said.
“Most people don’t even know that there’s no school crossing supervisors in Casey anymore.
“Even though there are less cars on the road at the moment, there are often still really busy roads out there.”
Another issue that puts doubt in the school crossing supervisor’s mind, is the fact that when flags are not displayed, the general pedestrian crossing rules no longer apply.
“Unless flags are displayed, lots of people who are walking and riding bikes at the moment expect cars to stop for them but cars don’t have to stop,” she added.
“My concern is that there is too much confusion because people will still get booked when they’re doing more than 40km/h even when there is no crossing supervisor or students around.
“There will be a lot of uncertainty out there.”
City of Casey’s community safety manager Caroline Bell said the council recognises that schools will still be receiving a small number of children to support essential workers.
“When schools went to online learning during Term 2 and again more recently over the past two weeks, the City of Casey maintained a skeleton service, however our experience was that there have been minimal students using school crossings,” Ms Bell said.
“We recognise the value placed on this important service by our community, and the decision to suspend the service during the Stage 4 lockdown is not one that has been taken lightly.
“However, the health and safety of our staff and the community is our first priority and we must all do our part in reducing the movement of people across the state, and this is one way we can make a significant difference within Casey.”
School crossing supervisors have not been suspected in Cardinia Shire.
However, Cardinia Shire Council is currently in the process of reviewing what impact the recent changes will have on school attendance, and the number of students using each crossing.
