VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Volusia Sheriff is asking parents and residents to hit the crosswalks and get involved to keep students safe. It’s for a new School Traffic Safety volunteer program.
The county has beefed up safety measures around the schools after a girl was hit and killed by a car while riding her bike in Port Orange back in May.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6 he’s heard hundreds of complaints from parents that more eyes need to be on the kids and alerting drivers. He said he needs parents and the community to be part of the solution now and volunteer.
“You don’t have to do it every day of the week but if you get five or six parents and someone takes mornings and somebody takes afternoons,” said Chitwood, “It’s an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and the training is about eight hours.”
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Chitwood said his team went to all of Volusia schools’ Parent Teacher Associations asking for volunteers right before school started only to find many did not want to get involved.
“We thought this would be great and we will get great participation. Well, a lot of people don’t think that because we’ve had one person who volunteered,” he said.
The sheriff said he has a budget for 115 crossing guard positions and 104 of those are filled. He said engineering studies are done to determine where each crossing guard goes. Some areas, like school entrances and driveways, typically don’t meet that criteria.
“There are other places where parents think there should be that doesn’t meet that criteria so if you feel that strongly about it and you can get the volunteers to do it, we’ll train you and you can cover those areas,” he said.
News 6 talked to parents in Port Orange who personally worked during pickup and dropoff hours but hope others who may not work in the community during that time can help out.
“If you’re standing outside walking to the school, then stand outside a little longer and help watch the rest of the kids,” said Rudy.
Anyone interested in volunteering can send an email to: esommers@volusiasheriff.gov
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