Las Vegas council approves crossing-guard contract; staff to pursue expansion to middle schools after pilot showed zero crashes

The Las Vegas City Council voted Aug. 6 to award a mutual-use contract for school crossing-guard services and signaled support for expanding the program to some middle schools and additional high schools after a city pilot found improved safety at pilot sites.

The contract for Crossing Guard Services (mutual-use contract no. 250163-RH, using Clark County bid no. 607448-25) was recommended to All City Management Services Inc. and approved by the council. Tanya Kimble, purchasing and contracts manager, told the council the dollar amount posted on the agenda was incorrect and staff will bring a contract modification to correct the annual and total amounts. The motion to approve the award passed on a council vote.

City officials said the award keeps the long-running elementary-school program in place and creates a near-term pathway to add crossing guards at middle schools and expand a high-school pilot. “We really continue to implement our Vision Zero action plan, which is aimed on eliminating deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic accidents,” Joey Paske, director of public works, said during the presentation. Paske outlined the department’s placement criteria and summarized pilot results.

The crossing-guard program currently operates at elementary schools with up to 287 guards serving 72 elementary schools on an annual budget of $2,877,000. Guards work during the 182 school days for roughly two hours per day and are paid “just shy of $30 an hour,” Paske said. The city places guards based on safety-based criteria including roadway frontage, crossing type (stop sign, traffic signal, marked crosswalk), vehicle speeds, traffic volumes and site visibility.

Before seeking expansion, Public Works ran a pilot late last year that placed two guards at Cimarron Memorial High School (Teneya Way) and one guard at Gibson Middle School (Washington). Paske said the pilot ran from November through the end of the year and that “0 crashes occurred during the school arrivals and departures for both of those,” adding the pilot also increased pedestrian compliance and motorist awareness.

Council members discussed scaling the pilot. The staff presentation estimated adding guards to middle schools could mean up to two guards per middle school (the city has 16 middle schools) and expanding the high-school pilot to include Arbor View and Palo Verde, which had high incident counts in recent crash data. Paske said the additional cost to expand in the coming school year would be approximately $415,000; broader expansion to all high schools could require a future budget request.

Councilman Brian Knudson, who moved approval of the contract, characterized the work as a public-safety priority. “This is a public safety function, and that is one of the priorities of the city council,” Knudson said, adding staff should begin implementation if council provides direction and if funding is available. Kimble told the council the amount listed on the agenda ($2,400,000 annually, $24,000,000 total) was posted in error; staff will present a corrected contract modification to the council so the contract can be in place before school starts.

The council action approved the award to the recommended contractor and authorized staff to proceed with contract administration, subject to a forthcoming modification that corrects the posted dollar figure. Staff also said they would pursue a rolling start for any middle- or high-school expansion because bringing on dozens of new guards requires staggered hiring and onboarding.

City staff emphasized that the middle- and high-school expansions are contingent on available budget authority and further council direction; the approved item itself was the contract award for crossing-guard services as posted (with the caveat that the posted amounts will be corrected).

The program is managed by the Department of Public Works and coordinates placement criteria with Clark County; the city said it uses data from Clark County School District crash reports that track incidents involving pedestrians, bikes and scooters occurring in school zones during school times. Paske noted Garside Middle School, Palo Verde High School and Arbor View High School had among the higher counts in the most recent year of school-zone incidents cited in the presentation.

Staff said they would return to the council with any needed budget or contract changes tied to middle- or high-school expansion and that hiring and deployment would begin promptly if council directs and funding is approved.