CHILD SAFETY ADVOCATES POINT OUT INEQUITY IN DISTRIBUTION OF GUARDS

by Chuck Hoven

   (Plain Press August 2026) As the new school year approaches, the safety of children crossing streets on their way to and from school calls for increased vigilance from parents, educators, City Council representatives and other community members. This coming school year is especially concerning as many students will be attending schools in neighborhoods that they are not familiar with due to school closings and consolidations that take effect this school year.

NEWS ANALYSIS

   In Cleveland, School Crossing Guards play a crucial role in making sure that students can safely make their way across busy streets on their way to and from school.

   Last school year, media reports and concerns expressed by members of the community pointed out concerns related to the implementation of the City of Cleveland Division of Police’s Bureau of Community Relations’ administration of the School Crossing Guard program.

   One major concern is the failure to recruit and hire enough school crossing guards to fill all the positions. This leaves some schools and busy intersections without a school crossing guard. On October 9, 2025, Ed Gallek and Peggy Gallek of the Fox 8 I-Team reported that of the 305 school crossing guard positions available in the City of Cleveland, more than one third were unfilled.

   On May 12, 2026, a report by Caitlin Hunt of ABC’s Channel 5 News titled “Community members raise concerns over number of school crossing guards in Cleveland” found the City still short of crossing guards. It noted the City had 195 crossing guards it was employing at the time. Still short of the 305 positions available.

   In the report, Cleveland Police Department spokesperson Freddy Diaz addressed the issue of school closings in the coming school year and the impact that would have on the Cleveland Police Departments ability to deploy school crossing guards at schools where they are needed. Diaz is quoted as saying, “In a weird way it’s probably going to help us reconfigure our deployment in terms of crossing guards, which is something we are working on with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) right now.”

   The report by Caitlin Hunt also included concerns expressed by Eileen Wilson, the executive director of Yamanna, a local immigrant and refugee organization. She noted the importance of having school crossing guards in place for children unfamiliar with American traffic patterns. Several schools in Cleveland serve large immigrant and refugee populations.

   The City’s policy of trying to place school crossing guards close to their homes also reportedly resulted in schools in neighborhoods like West Park having multiple school crossing guards while schools in other neighborhoods had a shortage of school crossing guards.

   One criticism of the school crossing guard program says the reason there are so many school crossing guards in neighborhoods like West Park is that many of the school crossing guards are retired police officers and fire fighters who live in West Park. The school crossing guard program offers full health benefits, an attractive incentive for City workers who retired long before they are eligible for Medicare.

   The inequitable distribution of school crossing guards that results from the policy of placing school crossing guards near their homes, begs the question as to whether the program’s highest priority is child safety, or does it give a higher priority to providing health care to retired City employees.

   School crossing guards are asked to be stationed at their posts for 45 minutes in the morning as students make their way to school and for another 45 minutes after school lets out. For this service they are paid $20.50 a day plus the generous City health care benefit.

   The Division of Police’s Bureau of Community Relations which oversees the program has promised to do better this year. It is hoped they will correct issues raised by past complaints that involve school crossing guards leaving their posts early, and busy intersections near schools having no crossing guards while streets with few students crossing them have a school crossing guard in place. Child safety advocates call for greater supervision of the school crossing guards and an effort to move school crossing guards to places where they are most needed.

   The Police Bureau of Community Relations has promised to increase its recruiting efforts for this coming year. Residents interested in becoming school crossing guards should visit https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/cleveland/jobs/5190804/cshool-crossing-guard , or call 216-664-2493 to learn how to apply.