Brooklyn Officials Want More (and Upgraded) School Crossing Guards

Brooklyn City Council members joined other officials, street safety advocates, and school reps at City Hall to call on Mayor de Blasio to hire more school crossing guards and to improve the job quality, Kings County Politics reports.

Councilmember Brad Lander explained: "... It’s outrageous that we’ve been paying them low wages, keeping them stuck in part-time jobs, and laying them off in the summer. By making job-quality better, we can fill vacant slots. By expanding the number of slots, we can move toward NYC’s Vision Zero goals to eliminate preventable deaths from traffic crashes, ensure a safe Pre-K expansion, and do more to keep all our kids safe.”

According to the NYPD information page, crossing guards start at $10.33 an hour, and can earn up to $13.49/hour after three years. But they are forced to take summer off and don't work full time. Schedules vary but generally run from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30am and 1:30pm to 4:00pm. 

Guards may retire with a pension -- but DC37 says the pension is small. They site the case of
Local 372 retiree Sallie Robertson, who worked for 35 years as a school crossing guard. Robertson gets a $790 monthly pension. 

PHOTO: US AAA 50th Anniversary 3-cent stamp, by Charles R. Chickering, USPS Bureau of Engraving and Printing via Wikimedia Commons 


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