By Joan Garvin

The unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County tend to fall through the cracks. In the case of school crossing guards, the county assumed the school districts provided these services, but the city school districts had no jurisdiction in unincorporated areas.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian investigated when residents of the Fifth District expressed concern about the safety of children who lived in, or crossed through, unincorporated areas on their way to school.

“The safety of school children walking or cycling to and from school through the unincorporated County, or on County roads and expressways, is not only the responsibility of our schools and cities, but the County’s responsibility as well,” said Simitian.

At his urging, the Board of Supervisors approved the first-ever countywide school crossing guard pilot program beginning this fall. It is a collaborative effort between the County, cities and local school districts to help ensure that every child can get to school safely.

The County funding is available for this school year. Residents or school districts who identify a location in an unincorporated area which they consider a hazardous intersection can contact Santa Clara County Traffic Engineer Masoud Akbarzadeh of the Roads and Airport Department at (408) 494-1336. Akbarzadeh will ask specifics regarding the location and if it meets the requirements, will send out a crew to investigate. If the location meets the state-established criteria for a crossing guard, the County will work with the local jurisdictions to agree upon a share-of-cost formula, and a crossing guard will be placed at that location as an extension of the local jurisdiction’s existing crossing guard program.

This program is not intended to duplicate or replace existing programs. The County expects to leave the administration of the program as it is. The crossing guard pilot program would provide funding to cover the addition of the unincorporated areas.