Queens Gazette

Editorial

Take Blinders Off
Crossing Guards



Take Blinders Off

Crossing Guards


Parents throughout New York City and their children as well take comfort in the familiar sight of a school crossing guard. These stalwarts, at their posts whatever the weather, through the school year, help children cross the street, and otherwise see that they get to and from school safely. Some have given their lives to protect the children in their charge.


It is our sad duty, however, to report that crossing guards are hampered by the rules of the system they serve from being as effective as they might be. Crossing guards are the outdoor eyes and ears of the school security system. The rules of that system, however, render them paralyzed, blind and mute to the school security officers and administrators inside school walls.


Crossing guards are required to remain at their posts, no matter what happens around them. If a child is being mugged for his lunch money half a block away in full view and hearing of a crossing guard, the crossing guard can do nothing. If a school bus and a tractor trailer collide 200 feet away from a crossing guard’s post, the guard can give no aid. If a gaggle of neighborhood vandals decide to scrawl graffiti on the outside of a school, the crossing guard can do nothing.


Crossing guards may not leave their posts even to go inside a school and alert security officers or office personnel to whatever disaster may be taking place just outside. They may not leave their posts to go to a pay phone on a nearby corner to call police, fire or emergency units. The rules make them completely ineffective.


This is a situation which makes no sense to us. Happily, a solution exists. If crossing guards are required to remain at their posts, let them at least be provided with the means to alert authorities to whatever is taking place. The Queens District Attorney’s office has recently begun to issue cellular telephones programmed exclusively to dial the ‘911’ emergency hotline to victims of domestic violence who fear being stalked or assaulted by their former partners. Crossing guards should at a minimum be equipped similarly.


City Council Speaker Peter Vallone has expressed concern over the continuing number of violent incidents occurring in and around the schools of New York City, a concern which appears to be justified. While no one expects crossing guards to act as police, their ability to summon law enforcement authorities to incipient problem situations will surely prevent many of those situations from escalating. Many a riot started out as a shoving match which could have been nipped in the bud if only authorities had been alerted in time.


The problem is even more acute in the case of an accident. Trauma physicians say that the first 60 minutes after any accident- the “golden hour”– are crucial to a victim’s survival and full recovery. The sooner a patient is assessed and treatment begun the better the chances of full recovery, especially in the case of small children, who can sustain severe head trauma if hit by a car. A crossing guard who sees a traffic accident or assault taking place almost under his or her very eyes should be able to summon help as soon as possible.


The crossing guards of our acquaintance regard themselves as guardians and friends of the children they see and befriend. “They know they can always talk to me,” one guard said. The crossing guards of this city want only to do their jobs more efficiently. Forcing them to play “See No Evil” aids neither the crossing guards nor the children whose safety they help to ensure. It’s time to take off the blinders and allow them to speak.





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