Haddon Primary School has had a win after their calls for a school crossing supervisor were answered.
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A new crossing was installed across busy Sago Hill Road earlier this year, but principal Maryanne Moody said many drivers were still speeding dangerously along the stretch outside school.
Although the school crossing was technically unmanned, Ms Moody had rostered staff to man the crossing before and after school to ensure the safety of pupils and parents.
At last month's Golden Plains Shire Council meeting, councillors agreed to co-fund a school crossing supervisor with VicRoads for the 2019/2020 financial year.
Although it was hoped a crossing supervisor would be in place for this week's start of term three, recruitment is continuing and it is hoped a supervisor will be appointed to man the crossing in the next few weeks.
"The school community are absolutely delighted," Ms Moody said.
"It means we are confident that, as long as drivers do the right thing, we are confident that children and parents using the car park will be safe crossing the road.
"It will make an enormous difference as for quite a bit of the time our school was providing staff members because we felt morally compelled to put our own supervisor in place, so we were bearing the cost of that because that person was getting overtime or time in lieu which has a cost."
Ms Moody thanked the school council, Golden Plains Shire and local MP Michaela Settle who all pushed for a crossing supervisor to improve the safety of school students.
In addition to agreeing to co-fund the crossing supervisor, Golden Plains Shire councillors also voted to advocate for the state government to fully fund the School Crossing Supervisor program from July 1, 2020.
"With a growing population and in a rate-capping environment, the current co-funding model between the state government and council needs change," council said in a statement.
The government currently fully funds school crossing supervisors in other rural shires, and Golden Plains will write to the Minister for Roads, Road Safety and the TAC, and to the Minister for Education, requesting that the government fully fund the shire's School Crossing Supervisor Program from 1 July 2020.
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