Even in a city like Philly, where political connections are paramount and it's who you know that matters, this is ridiculous:
Members of a recently formed school-safety task force have learned that the process of assigning crossing guards isn't based on any objective criteria. Instead, guards are assigned based on pressure from politicians.
The Police Department, which operates the $11 million crossing-guard program, doesn't assign guards based on such measures as the number of children crossing the street or volume of vehicle traffic, task force members said.
The department also rarely reassesses where guards are assigned, so the current configuration of guards is essentially the same as it was two decades ago, despite significant shifts in student populations.
Crossing-guard deployment is "largely a political process," said Francis Dougherty, the city managing director's special assistant.
"No one seems to know" how guards are assigned, Dougherty said. "I'm amazed."
Eleven million dollars to assign crossing guards, yet there are none near some Philly schools on busy streets, and more than one in areas where schools have long been closed. And a horrific number of students have been hit by cars since the beginning of the 2003-04 school year.
So far this school year, 56 public-school children across the city have been hit by cars around schools, according to school district records. Most of those accidents have occurred right outside schools. Two recent accidents injuring students outside school occurred at corners where the guard was absent, and in May 2001, a 5-year-old boy was killed at an intersection where the crossing guard was absent.
City Councilman Jim Kenney, who has called for Council hearings on traffic dangers around schools, called the crossing-guard program a "mess."
The school district's chief executive officer, Paul Vallas, has directed staff to identify intersections where guards are needed as part of an overall safe-corridors program.
"There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to the assignment of guards," Vallas said yesterday. "I don't think there ever was any real accountability. We need to be screaming for some accountability."
Crossing guards are assigned to intersections, not schools. The crossing-guard unit has funding for guards at 1,037 city intersections. Guards start at a salary of $44 per day.
If a school wants a guard at an unassigned corner, there are two options: Council can approve additional funding for that corner, or the crossing-guard unit can reassign a guard from another corner...
No one could explain why two crossing guards are assigned to corners near a school that has been closed for 21 years...
When no one can explain why a system works the way it does, even after children have been killed, heads should roll. I hope the Daily News repeated coverage of this problem prompts investigations and reassignments.
Posted by kswygert at February 26, 2004 10:54 AM