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Clearwater crossing guards prepare for new school year
Kailey Tracy reports.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - As parents and their students are grabbing last-minute school supplies and getting ready for the first day of school, school crossing guards are also getting ready.
Clearwater’s team had training this week.
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Local perspective:
"We all have a little bit of rust on us, because we’ve been sitting at home enjoying the AC," Norm Runkles, Clearwater’s school crossing guard supervisor, told the group on Thursday.
"I want to get you out of here, so you can enjoy the AC some more before we start school on Monday," he said.
The retired firefighter/EMT has been a crossing guard for almost 15 years.
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"I needed a job and saw the ad for it and, being a first responder for years before this, I thought this would be a good job and a good fit for me," Runkles said.
In 2014, he became Clearwater’s school crossing guard supervisor.
"We do it for the safety of the children in the City of Clearwater. Our parents and citizens expect us to be top-notch. They want us to be well-trained and us to do our job, which is to make sure their children get safely to school and from school back to home," he said.
What they're saying:
"Our role is very important with the children morning and afternoon, because we’re the first person that they see in the morning going to school and so, we want to try to ease that tension for them by being polite to them and getting them to understand and talk with them," Runkles said. "Some of the kids will confide in the guards with certain things that they like and need, maybe just a chit-chat or maybe just to give them a little umph to get going through the school day, and then the same thing in the afternoon to make sure we get them safely back to their parents."
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They work 7:45-10 a.m. and then are back on the clock from 2:30-4:45 p.m.
"Our main task is to make sure that we are on post, and we are doing this job correctly and teaching the children at an elementary level will stick with them for the rest of their lives. If we teach them how to cross a street, then they will know that and that will make them safer as they go into adulthood and preteen and all of that," Runkles said.
He said keep the kids safe is a team effort, which also involves drivers and those behind the wheel of e-bikes.
"Please be cognizant when you’re in a school zone and please put the cell phone down," he said.
"For pedestrians, make sure that you’re following and pushing the button and doing the walk signal correctly," Runkles said.
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On Thursday, he played the role of student as, one by one, the crossing guards practiced.
What you can do:
Right now, Clearwater has 55 crossing guards. They’re hiring, though, and you can apply on the Clearwater Police Department’s website.
The Source: FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy spoke with Clearwater’s school crossing guard supervisor for this story.