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Safeguard Schoolchildren Through the City's Busy Streets – A Call for Additional School Crossing Guards

New York City – New York City – Local 372, NYC Board of Education Employees’ President Shaun D. Francois I and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called on the Police Department to make sure all school crossing guard posts are staffed every day and to re-examine its deployment strategy.  Two weeks ago, a 3rd-grade student leaving P.S. 89 in Manhattan was a victim of a motor vehicle accident on Warren Street. That intersection did not have a crossing guard and the accident was a direct result of that unacceptable omission. Our children should not be collateral damage due to the absence of school crossing guard and no student should lack the benefits of being safeguarded through the city's busy streets.

According to an analysis of federal data, New York City drivers hit and injured more than 15,000 children between 2005 and 2012. With the implementation of Vision Zero, pedestrian fatalities have fallen 32%.  However, children are still getting hurt as the number of cars on city streets continue to increase. There are only 2,546 School Crossing Guards assisting 1.2 million school children citywide. Often times, the poorest neighborhoods and schools (with highest ratios of diverse ethnic and racial makeups) suffer from the lack of protections school crossing guards have to offer.  

A major component of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero Plan calls for a city-wide plan to place a school crossing guard at every school post in the five boroughs.  The Vision Zero Plan requires the additional hire of 100 full-time new crossing guard supervisors, 200 part-time crossing guards and the implementation of a mobile replacement squad. The time is now for more school crossing guards to protect our children.   Approximately $25 million in city funds over the next four years will underwrite the cost of this initiative, Speaker Johnson and Local 372 call for the City to expedite funding this initiative as it will spare children from being injured, or even worse, while on their way to and from school.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our children. That is why I am proud to stand with Local 372 NYC Board of Education Employees, which represents school crossing guards. I join them in calling for the city to do more to keep kids safe. Just recently a third grader was struck by a car leaving P.S. 89 in Manhattan. This is unacceptable and we must do better.”– City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

“The safety of our children while going to and from school is of utmost concern to us, and it is why I am calling for the hire of more school crossing guards to be assigned to every school, and, as well as, making the request that the City equally prioritizing the need for enhanced staffing at schools that are near or adjacent to major thoroughfares. Local 372 Level-I School Crossing Guards are often the first line of defense to improve the safety of students who walk, bicycle, or take transit to school. However, under current staffing levels, there still remain thousands of New York City school children crossing main intersections without any supervision from NYPD school crossing guards, parental or adult guidance.”  Shaun D. Francois I – President of Local 372.

“There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our children, and by assigning a school crossing guard to every school in our city; we are helping to ensure that our kids are better protected from becoming a traffic fatality while going to and from school.”  Henry Garrido - DC 37 Executive Director

“CHAH is another example of a middle school and high school where we have no school crossing guard, no school zone speed limit sign, and no speed bump. Furthermore, our students are forced to navigate dangerous scaffolding and disruptive construction each day. Concerned CHAH parents have repeatedly made requests to the local police precinct for a school crossing guard be assigned to intersections at our schools.  Our request has yet to be met. Between the lack of proper safeguards against the background of heavy construction, this is setting the stage for an accident waiting to happen.” Floyd Lee - Parent Advocate, The Community Health Academy of the Heights (CHAH)