WESTMINSTER : City-School District Cost Dispute May Mean End to Crossing Guards

Olga Falcon will remain a crossing guard at John Marshall Elementary School for the next month, but after that the children could be on their own.

Falcon’s job of guiding students across Bushard Street at Westwood Drive is threatened because of a dispute between the city and the Garden Grove Unified School District.

Charging that the district reneged on a promise to pay half of the costs, city officials this month cut off funding for crossing guards at five Westminster elementary schools served by the school district. But protests from angry parents persuaded the City Council last week to maintain the services until April 14.

District officials said the schools never agreed to pay half of the cost for the guards. District spokesman Alan Trudell said that traffic safety is a city responsibility and that the district, which serves more than 42,000 students at 64 schools in five cities, cannot afford it. With $54.3 million of district money frozen in the bankrupt county pool, “we have to tighten our belts even further,” Trudell said.

The cities of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Stanton all pay for crossing guards, Trudell pointed out.

City Manager Bill Smith said that Westminster, which is facing a $1.9-million deficit for fiscal 1995-96, cannot pay the full cost either. The city shoulders only half of crossing guard expenses in the Westminster and Ocean View school districts, he said.

In addition, Smith said that state law no longer requires cities to provide crossing guards at schools.

City officials will consider a number of solutions, including training volunteers to serve as crossing guards. Falcon, 46, has been doing the crossing guard work for four years.

“The only losers are the kids,” said Dene Maves, member of a parent group demanding that the city and the school district maintain the crossing guards. “We tell children to stay in school, and now they can’t even feel safe crossing the street.”