SHORELINE, Wash. — Officials with AAA Washington say they're seeing statewide delays for their School Safety Patrol program after remote learning impacted its ability to get up and running ahead of the 2021 school year.
Echo Lake Elementary School in Shoreline, which normally has a strict application process, went from a week long training in the spring to a one hour training ahead of the first day of class.
Fifth grade teacher Mark Owen has been a patrol adviser for 25 years and said he tried to get the program started in time.
"I made a lot of phone calls, sent emails out to teachers so I ended up training about a dozen kids right before school started," said Owen.
On an average year the program needs about 15 students in the mornings and another 15 in the afternoon to cover the crosswalks, in front of the school and in the back parking lot.
"We're down about 18 students but these kids are working every day and just a great group," said Owen.
The privilege of wearing the bright yellow vest is a bucket list item for fifth graders like Ayla Bronstatr.
"When I was in kindergarten they were helping me and now I'm helping
kindergarteners," said Bronstatr who is one of the dozen trained squad members.
Owen said the program is as much about teaching fifth graders responsibility as it is about helping younger students get to school safely.
According to AAA, the program has contributed to a 24% decline in pedestrian deaths since 2010.
Fortunately, the delays haven't impacted school safety at Echo Lake Elementary yet.
Owen said more parents are walking their kids to school right now because of social distancing and mask wearing so there are extra eyes on the road. His concern is what happens when parents start letting their kids out on their own.
"That's when we hope to have everything up and running. That's the goal to get more kids trained and and I think everyone will feel a bit safer," said Owen, who added the school will send a note to parents when the program is finally up and running.