Tweet
SCHOOL BOARD RECOMMENDS CROSSING GUARDS REASSIGNMENTS
Glendale News Press, CA
July 17 2014
City officials, parents and educators join to reevaluate intersections.
by Kelly Corrigan, [email protected] July 17, 2014 | 5:10 p.m.
Glendale school officials made recommendations last week for placing
crossing guards at several new schools.
Under the plan, Balboa, Fremont, Horace Mann and John Muir elementary
schools, along with Roosevelt Middle School, would each have a
crossing guard.
Nearly 120 parents, district staff, police and parking enforcement
officers examined 46 intersections before and after school let out --
a project that was coordinated by Kelly King, assistant superintendent
for Glendale Unified.
They spent nearly 300 hours over five weeks tallying how many vehicles
and pedestrians crossed through each intersection, then turned the
data over to the city's traffic and engineering department.
The results helped an 18-member committee -- made up of city employees,
parent volunteers and district staff -- assign crossing guards at
campuses where they are needed most.
"This committee wasn't in existence for quite a while, so we recreated
it, and the first task put in front of us was to do a reassessment
of crossing-guard locations throughout the city-funded geographical
area," King said.
Los Angeles County pays for several crossing guards stationed at four
La Crescenta schools while the city of Glendale pays $260,000 each
year for 30 crossing guards.
The reassessment effort was made, in part, because parents at Balboa
Elementary expressed concerns that a growing student population led
to increased traffic concerns.
The city currently pays for 29 crossing guards to be stationed at
Glendale public schools. An additional one works at Vahan & Anoush
Chamlian Armenian School.
The new plan would remove one crossing guard from Glenoaks Elementary,
a campus that had two working there last year, but will continue to
have one for 2014-15.
Four crossing guards would also be taken from the area near Hoover
High, Toll Middle School and Keppel Elementary, where 3,850 students
go to and from the location on an average school day.
The area had 14 crossing guards stationed there last year, and would
have 10 stationed there for 2014-15 instead.
Elementary schools that would also have crossing guards next year
include Cerritos, Columbus, Edison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Marshall, R.D.
White, Valley View and Verdugo Woodlands. Wilson Middle School will
also have a crossing guard. .
School officials also made a priority list should city officials
allocate additional funding for crossing guards.
At the top of that list is Franklin Magnet School followed by Keppel,
Balboa, Fremont and Dunsmore.
"That does not mean that the other areas are not important and may not
benefit from additional supervision, it just means that these five
rows above them are in priority order for all the reasons we talked
about before," she said, adding the consideration of the number of
cars going through each intersection and rate of speed vehicles travel
at as they move through them.
The committee will continue to meet during the school year to develop
another priority list for schools to develop independent traffic
control plans.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/tn-gnp-me-0716-school-district-to-increase-crossing-guards-20140717,0,4480356.story
Glendale News Press, CA
July 17 2014
City officials, parents and educators join to reevaluate intersections.
by Kelly Corrigan, [email protected] July 17, 2014 | 5:10 p.m.
Glendale school officials made recommendations last week for placing
crossing guards at several new schools.
Under the plan, Balboa, Fremont, Horace Mann and John Muir elementary
schools, along with Roosevelt Middle School, would each have a
crossing guard.
Nearly 120 parents, district staff, police and parking enforcement
officers examined 46 intersections before and after school let out --
a project that was coordinated by Kelly King, assistant superintendent
for Glendale Unified.
They spent nearly 300 hours over five weeks tallying how many vehicles
and pedestrians crossed through each intersection, then turned the
data over to the city's traffic and engineering department.
The results helped an 18-member committee -- made up of city employees,
parent volunteers and district staff -- assign crossing guards at
campuses where they are needed most.
"This committee wasn't in existence for quite a while, so we recreated
it, and the first task put in front of us was to do a reassessment
of crossing-guard locations throughout the city-funded geographical
area," King said.
Los Angeles County pays for several crossing guards stationed at four
La Crescenta schools while the city of Glendale pays $260,000 each
year for 30 crossing guards.
The reassessment effort was made, in part, because parents at Balboa
Elementary expressed concerns that a growing student population led
to increased traffic concerns.
The city currently pays for 29 crossing guards to be stationed at
Glendale public schools. An additional one works at Vahan & Anoush
Chamlian Armenian School.
The new plan would remove one crossing guard from Glenoaks Elementary,
a campus that had two working there last year, but will continue to
have one for 2014-15.
Four crossing guards would also be taken from the area near Hoover
High, Toll Middle School and Keppel Elementary, where 3,850 students
go to and from the location on an average school day.
The area had 14 crossing guards stationed there last year, and would
have 10 stationed there for 2014-15 instead.
Elementary schools that would also have crossing guards next year
include Cerritos, Columbus, Edison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Marshall, R.D.
White, Valley View and Verdugo Woodlands. Wilson Middle School will
also have a crossing guard. .
School officials also made a priority list should city officials
allocate additional funding for crossing guards.
At the top of that list is Franklin Magnet School followed by Keppel,
Balboa, Fremont and Dunsmore.
"That does not mean that the other areas are not important and may not
benefit from additional supervision, it just means that these five
rows above them are in priority order for all the reasons we talked
about before," she said, adding the consideration of the number of
cars going through each intersection and rate of speed vehicles travel
at as they move through them.
The committee will continue to meet during the school year to develop
another priority list for schools to develop independent traffic
control plans.
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/tn-gnp-me-0716-school-district-to-increase-crossing-guards-20140717,0,4480356.story