Schools losing crossing guards on Northwest Side as CPS tries to shrink deficit

by BRIAN NADIG

Several Northwest Side elementary schools stand to lose a crossing guard as the Chicago Public Schools looks for ways to reduce its projected $734 million budget deficit.

These include Prussing, Smyser, Bridge, Lyon, Pope Francis, Saint Edward, Saint Ferdinand, Saint Monica and Immaculate Conception and others, according to a list of proposed cuts.

The cuts are a part of proposed changes in CPS operations for the upcoming school year. In a press release, CPS chief operating officer Charles Mayfield said in addition to proposed changes to crossing guard services, some schools may implement new bell schedules, some may experience changes in meal services to feature simpler menus, fewer hot meal options, or cold meals served on certain days, and changes to building maintenance and cleaning, and to student health services. See the announcement here here.

Prussing School in Jefferson Park reportedly is slated to lose a crossing guard from the Giddings-Menard intersection but is keeping its Lawrence-Menard position under the proposal. Also remaining under the current schedule is the position at Austin-Eastwood, which serves Prussing and Saint Robert Bellarmine.

Edgebrook School is expected to keep its crossing guards, which are at the Devon-Minnehaha and Central-Hiawatha intersections. The guard positions at the Peterson-Forest Glen intersection, which serves Sauganash School and Queen of All Saints, also is expected to remain, according to the proposal.

Wildwood School and Saint Mary of the Woods reportedly did not have any crossing guard positions last year, and none are planned for the fall.

The two guards at Farnsworth School are listed as remaining under the proposal, but there are reports that Onahan School could be losing two of its four crossing guards. Area aldermen have been asked by the school to help get the positions reinstated.

The school system list of “proposed” guard positions shows all four Onahan positions remaining, but it is not clear if the status of Onahan’s positions later changed after the initial list was issued.

Chicago Board of Education member Jennifer Custer (District 1B), who represents a portion of the Northwest Side, said that out of 730 positions, 110 crossing guards are being eliminated citywide under the proposed budget. She said board members only recently started to learn details about the cuts.

Board member Ed Bannon (District 1A), also representing the Northwest Side, said that school system officials will be submitting a proposed budget to the board in about two weeks, and a vote is expected before the end of August.

The amount of savings expected from the crossing guard cuts is not clear, according to Bannon and Custer.

Custer said CPS officials said they have identified a total of about $165 million in cuts so far, but she added that figure includes much more than just eliminating crossing guard jobs.

The cuts include 33 positions that primarily or exclusively serve private schools.

Being eliminated under the current proposal are crossing guard positions at Harlem-Talcott and Oconto-Talcott, which serve Immaculate Conception, and from the Foster-Montclaire intersection, which serves Saint Monica Academy.

“These changes were made without formal notice and directly jeopardize the safety of our children,” Alderman Anthony Napolitano (41st) said on Facebook. “We strongly oppose these reckless cuts and are committed to fighting them.”

In addition, the Melvina-Irving Park position that serves Pope Francis Global Academy also is being eliminated under the plan, and Saint Ferdinand is losing its post at the Belmont-Mason intersection.

Also, Saint Edward School is reportedly losing guards at Montrose-Lowell and Elston-Lowell. Some students from Palmer and Belding reportedly cross these intersections.

“The presence of crossing guards has long served as a vital layer of protection in areas where traffic congestion, speed and visibility make independent student crossings extremely dangerous. These eliminations put over 870 students at risk,” Alderman Samantha Nugent (39th) wrote in a July 24 letter to the City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety.

Custer said it appears that CPS has attempted to base the cuts on “safety scores” assigned to each crossing guard intersection and that in some instances students will be asked to walk an extra block or so to a different intersection where a guard remains.

Custer said that scenario is not necessarily true for private schools, where positions were eliminated unless the presence of a guard also benefited a public school. Some of the eliminated posts are at busy intersections, with high volumes of traffic, she said.

CPS has told the Archdiocese of Chicago that it will provide training to crossing guards hired by private schools and their volunteers, Custer said. “We’ve reached out to CPS to get more information, (but) ultimately these decisions don’t come out of the City Council,” Napolitano’s chief of staff Chris Vittorio said of the cuts.

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