The city of Orange will restore crossing guard services at each elementary school within city limits through the end of the school year with financial assistance from the county.
For more than 50 years, the city had funded crossing guards near many Orange elementary and secondary schools. But the City Council decided to nix the program earlier this summer along with many other community services as part of austerity measures to address a longstanding multimillion-dollar structural budget deficit.
But after the school year began, public outcry about the canceling of the crossing guard program led councilmembers to reconsider their decision. They unanimously voted to bring back crossing guards this year through a contractor on Sept. 10 and approved that contract this Tuesday.
The roughly $415,000 agreement with All City Management Services for 16 crossing guards will be paid in various ways.
The city will cover roughly a third of the cost through its general fund with funding that city staff said became available due to the council’s decision to delay cost-of-living adjustments for senior management employees. A one-time appropriation from the city’s traffic safety fund will cover another third of the contract.
The county will cover roughly $123,000 through contributions from the offices of supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Donald Wagner.
Second District Supervisor Sarmiento said his team heard “very impassioned pleas” from Orange residents concerned about the safety of their children as they make their way to and from school.
“We know that students going to and from school are sometimes subject to some dangerous conditions,” Sarmiento said. “Having crossing guards at the ready is something that’s vitally important.”
“Closing the funding gap to assist the city for the two schools in the Third District was the right thing to do in light of the city not having the funding to keep this vital safety program for our children going,” Wagner said.
