Will not pick up tab for extra crossing guards or change the schedule
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — City Council has made it clear that it was not involved, nor was it asked to participate, in the school district’s reopening plan amid the COVID-19 pandemic that requires nearly triple the hours of crossing guard coverage.
Council also made it clear that the district would not budge on changing its plan to resolve the issue, putting the onus on the city, which employs the crossing guards as a “courtesy” to the district.
That being said, officials vowed to address the problem when school opened Sept. 8, at least until other arrangements could be made.
The “dramatically different” schedule, approved Aug. 6 by the school board, calls for students to attend school four half-day sessions each week with a full virtual day Friday. There will be a morning session (9 a.m. to noon for the elementary school and 8 to 11 a.m. for grades five to eight) and an afternoon session (1 to 4 p.m. for elementary and noon to 3 p.m. for middle school). This creates a need for more crossing guard hours, which in turn creates a need for more money — neither of which the city has.
About four dozen people logged into the Zoom meeting of City Council’s work session Tuesday, Sept. 1, during which the city provided “members of the public with facts and context.”
Council President Frank Perri said he, Mayor Erland Chau, Police Chief Paul Newman and Councilman Brian Smith, liaison to the school board, have met repeatedly with Superintendent Pete Bretones and Board of Education President Debbie Levitt to try to resolve the problem.
Smith read a lengthy statement into the record explaining the city’s position.
He said the city has been providing crossing guard coverage for at least the past 45 years, which he knows because the most senior guard has been with the city that long.
“We have guards at 13 locations throughout town; of the 13 guards that serve these locations, nine of them have been with us for 10 years or more,” he said, noting that they have worked two one-hour shifts per day the entire time.
“All of this matters because it supports what a shock it was to city officials when, on Aug. 7, our chief of police was notified by (Northfield Community School) superintendent of a dramatically different school schedule for the 2020-2021 school year, one that would require the guards to work close to three times as many hours as they ever had in the history of our town, and one that would likely cost the taxpayers far in excess of an additional $140,000 per year,” he said.
Smith said the school’s half-day schedule would result in “an increase from 26 crossing guard hours per day to as many as 91 hours per day, with less than 30 days to make that happen.”
“It was Police Chief Newman who immediately recognized the need for increased crossing guard presence. The plan had been presented to the public and voted upon during a special meeting of the Board of Education the evening prior. There was no mention of crossing guards in the plan.
“The original hybrid plan, presented to families in an email from the school on July 24, indicated the likelihood of an A/B schedule with students alternating days and attending two days a week in person and three days virtually. That original plan would not have required any change in crossing guard duties and actually would have reduced it by one day, since there would be no students in school on Fridays.
“In light of the change to a new schedule, Mayor Erland Chau and Chief Newman promptly sent a letter to NCS Superintendent Bretones, advising him that the implementation of the staggered schedule, one with four start times and four dismissal times, created an unprecedented change and a significant, if not impossible, challenge for crossing guard staffing.”
Smith also defended the city’s response to the issue.
“So, for those members of the public who say the city ‘knew’ and did nothing, you are wrong. We promptly notified school officials that this may not be possible,” he said, noting that the city and school representatives met a few days later and agreed to reduce the guard presence from 91 hours a week to 71.5 hours.
“This was still an almost three-fold increase,” he said.
Smith reiterated the fact that the school board never sought the involvement of the city in creating its reopening plan.
“The city is and has been willing to do its part in assisting the school, but we were never given the opportunity, by the school, to voice concerns or to discuss with the school the impact that this change would have on our ability to provide crossing guards,” he said. “I have heard that there was a ‘re-opening committee’ that included ‘all stakeholders,’ but the city of Northfield, city officials and our Police Department were never invited to attend any committee meetings. Since the city employs the crossing guards, and they are obviously an important part of student transportation in a walking district such as ours, it is hard to fathom how we were overlooked as a stakeholder in the discussions of creating such a dramatically different attendance pattern at our school.”
He said hiring and training crossing guards is not an easy or quick process.
“It has been said that because the city knew 30 days before the first day of school that the city had ample time to just hire new guards, but instead ‘did nothing.’ As you may be able to imagine, a work schedule that consists of one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon is likely not all that attractive to a great many people.
“Accordingly, the job of crossing guards has been traditionally hard to fill, and we very rarely get more than a few applicants for any open position. … Once a successful candidate is identified, under state law s/he has to pass a criminal background check, and also under state law, s/he must be provided with a minimum of two hours of classroom instruction, and another 20 hours of ‘field training’ by shadowing another, experienced crossing guard. So, new guards can’t work their own shift until they’ve worked 20 hours with someone else.
“In essence a new guard can’t really be trained until school is already in session. It is understandable that members of the general public may not know this, and may unintentionally minimize the difficulty in putting a qualified, trained crossing guard on a school post,” he said.
Smith said it is not at all surprising that the school did not consult the city on the plan regarding student safety.
“Elected officials have never been involved in these conversations, and in fact they have only ever occurred directly between the NCS school superintendent and the chief of police. The school has never contacted City Council, or the City Council liaison to the school, for public safety support before, whether it be for an officer, a class II or a crossing guard,” he said.
Smith said the school board’s lack of communication with city officials has somehow been blamed on the city.
“We want to provide safe passage for our children to and from school. However, what has been put on social media has put the city of Northfield in a position to defend ourselves. We have been put on the defensive by the Board of Education, who not only did not include us in any planning conversations, has been less than forthright in relaying what is really going on here,” he said. “What the district has proposed does not comport with the city’s public safety objectives, and further, in creating this plan, the district did not comply with the Anticipated Minimum Standards as set forth in ‘The Road Back Restart and Recovery Plan for Education’ set forth by the New Jersey Department of Education.”
But Smith said the city would not put the safety of children in jeopardy over petty squabbling.
“I believe the city is committed to providing safe passage to school for our children. We are willing to attempt to cover the locations necessary to start the school year. I believe there are some other alternatives that should be considered, for example eliminating the stagger for middle school and elementary school. Have the AM and PM sessions occur at the same times, still allowing for two hours of cleaning between sessions. I have also suggested having our guards only cover the elementary school crossings. Each of these options would potentially reduce the hours needed to be covered from 5.5 per day to 4,” he said.
He also said that while the guards may be willing to attempt to cover the new schedule, “we need to consider the possibility that increasing the hours for these individuals may not be sustainable.”
“Chief Newman is committed to making this work through the implementation of our original 13 guards, plus 3-4 substitutes, along with Class II officers, and finally members of the police force if absolutely necessary,” he said.
Smith said the school board must share the financial hardship.
“I think it is incumbent upon the school to share 50 percent of that cost of this additional unfunded liability resulting from their plan,” he said. “The city is rightfully concerned about the public safety of our kids. We must work together to ensure positive outcomes for all of our residents, and in these uncertain, unprecedented times, we must share in the burden.”
Chau said there have been “a lot of false statements and rumors accusing the city government of being negligent.”
“We do not have the manpower to cover the middle shift; some guards have second jobs and there is no guarantee that subs will be available,” he said.
Chau noted that the existing guards “will make an attempt” but there is no guarantee they can work the middle shift.
“The guards would be there practically all day,” he said.
The mayor also said the city must negotiate with the crossing guards’ union because there is a proposed change in working conditions.
“We do not know what will come out of those negotiations,” Chau said, adding that the city was not prepared for the extra expense, nor was it budgeted.
The mayor also said working as a crossing guard is not an easy task and he will not accept volunteers who have not been properly trained.
“We can’t guarantee work ethic or availability of volunteers would occur,” Chau said, noting that they would have to be indemnified by the city.
He said Newman has reached out to other municipalities to see if they have trained guards who could assist Northfield but got no response.
Chau also said the city does not have to provide crossing guards but does so as a courtesy, noting that he knows of one municipality that has stopped providing crossing guards and that Egg Harbor Township does not have any.
The mayor did say that the city would provide the normal coverage.
“Rest assured that we will have crossing guards,” he said. “We will provide those two shifts and will pay for them. The school will operate if and when we come to a conclusion and school will be provided with two shifts. But people should not blame the city if we cannot fill other shifts.”
Councilwoman Barbara Madden said the funding is unattainable and suggested the school go full virtual until the issue can be resolved.
“When I first heard this, I thought it was the most irresponsible and egregious plan a school board could come up with,” she said. “I think the board should go back to the drawing board, go to virtual for a month until it can get a workable plan.”
She said the split sessions is “a recipe for disaster health wise,” adding that eight sessions in the school could lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Noting that the school board just raised taxes by 7 cents per $100 of assessed value, she said the school board is acting in “an irresponsible manor and doing taxpayers a disservice.”
“If the school board insists (on sticking with its plan), we should disband the crossing guards. Where is the money and crossing guards coming from?”
She said the school board had months to come up with a better plan and should have worked with the mayor and council “instead of keeping things secret. I find it reprehensible.”
Perri said the city and school board are at an impasse.
“The superintendent and school board are not willing to move one bit. It will take a lot of money, taxes will have to be raised, but that’s their plan and there is no compromise.”
Councilman Jim O’Neill said there would not have been a problem if the school had in-person instruction two days staggered, with students going once a day.
“We are talking $130,000 for taxpayers plus more to clean the school twice. Out of the blue, they decided to have split sessions,” he said. “No matter if the school pays for it or we pay for it, it comes out of your pockets.”
He said he cannot back a plan that would put students in harm’s way.
“If the police chief says it is unsafe, I don’t feel comfortable with it,” he said. “I can’t support the plan even if we could come up with the money.”
Perri said the school is not willing to change what’s been done.
“The superintendent who approved the school board’s plan refuses to change his mind and said we have to deal with it,” he said. They are standing their ground.”
Chau said people have suggested using the police force, but that also would come with added costs and compromise the city safety.
“What happens is this — it would be costing more money for overtime and if there is an emergency, the cop has to leave his post to do what he is supposed to be doing as police officer. I cannot take that risk,” Chau said, adding that he is willing to have some officers “fill in until the matter is straightened out.”
Chau said the Police Department has started re-evaluating the 13 crossing guard stations, which he said was one of the suggestions from the school board, but that cannot really be accomplished until school starts.
“Even though we started the process, we cannot get real data until we count the number of students using each post,” he said.
Perri said the school did offer one concession — doing away with busing for handicapped students — that would save $60,000.
“The situation is that we are tight and if it gets bad there are not a lot of options other than an emergency appropriation,” he said, noting that the city’s chief financial officer does not feel that would be a good option.
Smith said since the city works on a different budget calendar, it would have to consider only September to December this year and that if the school board agrees to cover half, it would “mitigate what we have to do.”
“They should share the burden of this unfunded liability,” he said. “If we can secure that, I agree with Council President Perri that we have to make this happen.”