Procedure No. 3425P

Students

School Patrol

The following procedures shall govern the operation of the school patrol:

1. The principal shall provide leadership in matters of selecting, instructing, and supervising patrol matters in accordance with state regulations and board policy.  Responsibility for the actual operation may be delegated to a staff member or a safety committee.
2. Members of the school patrol shall assist students in the safety and proper crossing of streets, highways, and roads adjacent to the school and other crossing areas approved by the local jurisdictional authority.
3. A school patrol member shall adhere to the duties and rules prescribed by Washington Administrative Code – School Safety Patrol.
4. When in performance of their duties, the members of a school patrol shall wear the standard school patrol uniform as described by Washington Administrative Code – School Safety Patrol.
5. School patrol members shall be selected from volunteers who are ages ten or older and who possess appropriate physical and mental abilities.  Parent or guardian written approval is required for students eighteen years and younger.
6. Each patrol member candidate shall pass a hearing and vision examination; evidence to be kept on file in the principal's office.
7. New patrol members shall be appointed by the principals prior to the end of the school year.  Such members shall work with trained members long enough to learn their duties.
8. The contents of the State of Washington School Safety Patrol Manual (SPI 1979) will be reviewed at training sessions provided for all safety patrol members.
9. Schools should periodically conduct a complete review of the entire school patrol program, including the following:
   1. The selection of supervisors
   2. The selection of student and adult members of the patrol
   3. The training of both supervisors and patrol members
   4. The determination of the streets which are to be used and those which are not to be used
   5. The equipment needed
   6. The time schedule when the patrol will be on duty
   7. The special precautions to be observed in inclement weather and during hours of semidarkness                            
10. The school district shall include in its liability insurance coverage employees and volunteers involved in and appointed to the school safety patrol program.
11. In accordance with Washington Administrative Code – School Safety Patrol, schools possess the authority to appoint adults as members of a school patrol.  The following criteria may be used to determine at which locations adult patrol members or adult superiors shall be stationed:
    1. When there is a lack of adequate gaps due to a high volume of traffic
    2. When 85 percent of the traffic speed exceeds the speed limit by five miles an hour
    3. When there is a restricted sight distance
    4. When the location or distance from the school building is such that poor supervision of students would otherwise result
    5. When there is a high volume of turning traffic over a crosswalk
    6. When the location has been determined by either school or law enforcement authorities to be beyond the capability of a student to make rational decisions concerning safety
    7. When there is an excessive volume of pedestrian traffic over a highway
    8. When any of the above criteria exists and there is a lack of an alternate school route plan

Adult school safety patrol members or adult supervisors may be assigned from the school’s educational assistant allotment or adult volunteers in accordance with Washington Administrative Code – School Safety Patrol.

Initially Adopted: July 11, 1994

Adopted: February 22, 2010