The Los Angeles City Council has taken significant steps toward reforming its crossing guard program ahead of the upcoming school year, aiming for improved safety and equitable resource distribution at school crossings.
On Wednesday, the council voted unanimously, with 11 members in favor and only two opposing, to assess school crossings across the city utilizing a new framework.
This innovative methodology will be guided by various metrics, including safety data, equity measures, and existing infrastructure, which will aid in determining the placement of crossing guards.
This decision represents a departure from the previous system, where crossings were evaluated solely based on requests made by school principals.
The changing dynamics of school safety prompted this assessment, which will address the often underrepresented areas that previously went without crucial safety interventions.
Council members Traci Park and John Lee, who voted against the update, expressed concerns regarding the potential negative impact on existing crossing guard positions. Council members Bob Blumenfield and Adrin Nazarian were absent during the vote.
Laura Rubio-Cornejo, the general manager of the Department of Transportation, highlighted the new approach’s aim to unify the crossing guard program with the overall evaluation process for school safety measures, such as speed limit reductions and speed tables.
Rubio-Cornejo emphasized that this comprehensive methodology would capitalize on various tools used to enhance safety in school zones.
While there is a positive reception for this update promising a fairer distribution of crossing guard resources, questions linger regarding whether volunteers can bridge the crossing guard shortage.
Currently, the city has managed to provide crossing guards at about two-thirds of the requested locations, according to a budget memo penned by Rubio-Cornejo earlier this spring.
Historically, school principals would request a crossing guard for specific intersections near their establishments.
City engineers then applied a pre-established set of criteria, which focused on the characteristics of the intersection, including lane configurations, speed limits, and the volume of both pedestrian and vehicle traffic, to determine the necessity of a crossing guard.
Rubio-Cornejo noted that this process often confined the deployment of crossing guards and failed to address safety shortcomings at intersections left unrequested.
Under the new protocol, the Department of Transportation will expand its evaluation radius to 1,000 feet around all elementary schools, rather than limiting it to just the principal-identified areas.
The updated approach will consider the entirety of the ranked list of elementary schools compiled last year, taking into account collision history and various socioeconomic factors present in the surrounding communities.
Each school will be categorized regionally to ensure that crossing guards are not deployed outside their originally assigned areas.
Intersections within proximity to higher-need schools will receive priority in crossing guard assignments, with existing criteria applied to determine where guards will be placed.
For instance, a high-ranking participating school in a region may receive multiple crossing guards if it is surrounded by several lanes of fast-moving traffic and has a considerable number of pedestrian students.
Carlos Torres, the L.A. Unified School District’s director of environmental health and safety, voiced his support for this updated methodology, highlighting the numerous factors being examined for enhancing school safety.
School Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin echoed similar sentiments, advocating for a more strategic approach that takes into account varying levels of need within different school environments.
She pointed out that the demand on principals can significantly vary, impacting their ability to advocate for crossing guards directly.
In the past, frustrations surrounding the crossing guard system reached a peak as incidents of pedestrian collisions involving children highlighted the urgent need for improvement.
One such incident occurred when a parent named John-Ryan Shea witnessed a near-fatal accident involving a girl struck by a vehicle while walking to Rockdale Elementary School.
Despite ongoing requests for a crossing guard at that intersection, parents felt their concerns were continually overlooked by city officials, leading to heightened frustration.
This intersection is just one among nearly 240 in the city where crossing guard requests went unfulfilled under the previous system.
The dilemma for city officials now lies in whether parents can step in as volunteer crossing guards in areas with no staffing, such as the problematic Rockdale intersection.
However, the city has avoided instituting a volunteer program, citing labor rights issues that prevent dual management of paid staff and volunteers.
Discussions about possibly training volunteers managed by schools have surfaced, although the practicality of this proposal remains uncertain.
The L.A. Unified School District has expressed greater skepticism about this approach, as recent communications have apparently not confirmed any developments in volunteer guard initiatives.
City Council members only became aware of possible trained volunteers during budget negotiations, amidst fears of funding cuts to crossing guard services, which sparked immense concern from both school board members and parents.
This budget preservation means that crossing guard supervisors, such as Secorra Gagau, can continue their essential roles in providing safety and fostering connections with children.
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the updates, there are anticipated challenges ahead.
If data and evaluations indicate that crossing guards would be better allocated to different areas, this may result in parting ways with long-established posts, creating potential backlash.
Torres noted the possibility of “growing pains” as the new methodology is rolled out, calling attention to the emotional toll it might take on communities attached to their local guards.
The lack of accessible data from both the Department of Transportation and the school district on current crossing guard placements poses a challenge to assessing the impact of changes adequately.
LAist is actively pursuing this information via public records requests, seeking to uncover where crossing guards have been positioned to ensure informed discourse on this pivotal issue in the future.
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