Westminster : Parents Press Trustees for Crossing Guards

About a dozen outraged parents have threatened to pull their children out of the Garden Grove Unified School District unless officials accept partial financial responsibility for providing crossing guards at certain campuses.

“I don’t think a child’s life should be in danger just to get a public education,” parent Jennie Jakstis told the Board of Education on Tuesday night.

For decades, the city of Westminster provided crossing guards for schools within its boundaries, but the City Council reduced funding by 50% for 1994-95 and asked that school districts affected by the decision pay the remainder.

The cost of crossing guards serving Garden Grove Unified schools in Westminster is about $25,000 a year. The city has paid to run the program since this fiscal year began, but its $12,500 budget has now run out, said Charlene Lent, assistant director for community services.

Because the city and school district administrators reached no formal agreement on who should pay, five campuses--Leo Carrillo, Dr. Merton E. Hill, John Marshall, John Murdy and Post elementary schools--may lose their crossing guards by April 14, said district spokesman Alan Trudell.

In a separate action, the city has sent letters to PTA presidents at the five affected schools, saying that the city wants to train parent volunteers to take over the task, said Trudell. “We support” the idea, said Trudell. He also stressed that traffic safety is a city responsibility, and the district--which has $54.3 million frozen in the bankrupt county pool--cannot afford to assume the crossing-guard burden.

City Manager Bill Smith has previously stated that Westminster, which is facing a $1.9-million deficit for fiscal 1995-96, cannot pay the full cost, either. Further, state law no longer requires cities to do so.

On Tuesday, Ed Sample, a parent with two children at Marshall, shouted from the audience that the board was ignoring the seriousness of the danger that traffic poses to young children.

“This will be a lot more serious when we have to parade a dead child before you,” he said.