Senate: Volunteers and district employees should have immunity at crosswalks

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Volunteers and school district employees may soon have governmental protection as they help at crosswalks to children get to and from school safely.

Senate File 110, “Inclusion of crossing guards for governmental claims act,” is moving through the Senate, and adds crossing guard volunteers and school district faculty to the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act. According to Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, the bill codifies state law to extend immunity from financial liability to include crossing guard volunteers, faculty and school district staff.

“All we’re doing is including volunteers and school district employees acting as roadway crossing guards,” Brennan told the Senate on Thursday afternoon. “This bill came about as there (was) a student that was killed in a crosswalk in our district several years ago.

The Cheyenne mother who lost her son has worked hard to make sure other students can get to and from school safely, Brennan said. But when she asked districts in Wyoming to have a district-sponsored crossing guard program, she was told it was not possible.

“They said that they couldn’t do that … one of the reasons was that they said that volunteers and staff of the school don’t have immunity, so they could be sued,” Brennan said. “I would just ask that we take this roadblock away, and that we would include volunteers and public school employees in our governmental claims act so that our kids can get to and from school safely.”

This story was published on February 1, 2025.