Las Vegas looks to add crossing guards at middle schools, select high schools

Las Vegas officials are planning to add crossing guards to middle schools and select high schools in their jurisdiction starting this school year, after previously stating they were not prepared to add the safety measure to secondary schools in the city.

Staff at Wednesday’s Las Vegas City Council meeting were directed to bring an item back to the council at a future meeting that, if approved, would see crossing guards at the 16 Clark County School District middle schools and three high schools within Las Vegas city limits.

Should the proposal prove successful, the city would spend an additional $415,000 this school year to add crossing guards to middle schools and select high schools, on top of the $2.87 million that Las Vegas already has budgeted for the 287 guards at 72 elementary schools.

If approved, crossing guards would first be added at middle schools that are deemed to be located in the most hazardous traffic corridors. The remaining spots would then be filled until all 16 middle schools have crossing guards. That process would take some time to complete, with the city noting that crossing guards will not be in place as the school year begins on Monday.

Following suit

The decision to add guards at middle schools comes after Clark County, Henderson and North Las Vegas added them to middle schools last school year. Clark County reported student-involved crashes at middle schools in their jurisdiction fell 64 percent last school year — going from 14 during the 2023-24 school year to five in 2024-25, according to county data.

Las Vegas is using criteria similar to the county’s to determine which schools are at higher risk, Joey Paskey, director of the Las Vegas public works department, said during Wednesday’s meeting.

A 2022 Review-Journal report previously showed that middle schools in the Las Vegas Valley had a disproportionately higher rate of crashes involving students — including those walking, biking or scootering to or from school — than elementary and high schools.

Pilot program

Las Vegas conducted a crossing guard pilot program last school year at Cimarron-Memorial High School and Gibson Middle School. Officials used the pilot program to assess the effectiveness of adding crossing guards beyond elementary schools.

The results of the pilot program showed that crossing guards led to increased compliance with traffic laws when crossing guards were present, according to the city.

Crashes involving students near schools during school hours in the city increased during the 2024-25 school year compared with 2023-24, Paskey said. Crashes near elementary schools rose by 50 percent, going from six to nine. Crashes near middle schools jumped 56 percent, going from nine in 2023-24, to 14 last school year. Crashes near high schools increased by 29 percent, going from 19 to 21, in Las Vegas city limits.

“What this does show is an increase and evidence that we need to place even more attention on making sure students are safe,” Paskey said, citing CCSD crash data.

Schools that were noted to be high risk were Garside Middle School, which had five crashes involving students, Palo Verde High School (five) and Arbor View High School (four).

High schools in view

If the funding is approved, the pilot program would continue at the high school level, with Las Vegas officials planning to keep crossing guards at Cimarron-Memorial and add them at Palo Verde and Arbor View, because of the higher number of traffic incidents at those high schools.

In May, an 18-year-old Arbor View senior, McKenzie Scott, was struck and killed while in a crosswalk in front of the school by a suspected drunken driver, just 25 days from graduation.

The potential is also there to further expand the program in the future to include all high schools in the city’s jurisdiction, depending on funding, Paskey said.

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said the potential to expand to high schools was important, confirming that no other jurisdiction currently has crossing guards at high schools.

“I think it’s an important goal to be working toward,” Berkley said.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.