By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — The Northfield Community School’s plan to return students to the classroom amid the COVID-19 pandemic forced the city to scramble to provide enough crossing guard coverage, but so far that has not been a problem.
“So far, so good,” Police Chief Paul Newman said. “It has worked out in our favor so far.”
The plan 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 is 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).
Councilman Brian Smith, liaison to the Board of Education, said previously the schedule requires five and a half hours each school day for every one of the 13 stations around the city, instead of the two hours five days a week — one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In addition, the arrival and dismissal times are staggered by an hour for the elementary and middle schools. So instead of 10 hours a week per station, the need is for 22 hours per station.
Mayor Erland Chau said he asked Superintendent Pete Bretones if there was a different schedule that would not require additional shifts but that Bretones replied that based on a survey of parents and his experience as an educator, what he proposed is the best plan.
“Obviously this is a huge financial impact that the city did not anticipate,” Chau said. “It has created a lot of stresses and problems with the city. The school has put this problem on us and needs to take some responsibility.”
Newman said the department, which employs the guards, has been able to cover every shift but one with its 13 full-time guards and its substitutes.
“We had to staff with a police officer one afternoon shift, but we had a person on duty and so there was no overtime,” Newman said. “Other than that, we’ve been staffing with crossing guards and substitute crossing guards. It’s been positive so far and we hope it stays that way.”
The city is attempting to hire additional full-time guards but has not been able to do so yet. It has, however, hired two new substitutes who are being trained.
Newman said if the full-time guards and substitutes can handle the shifts, full-time guards may not need to be hired.
Chau said he is still waiting to hear from Bretones regarding sharing the financial burden, something Chau said Bretones offered to do. The city has said the extra coverage would cost at least $130,000 for the school year.
Chau said he has yet to talk to the union representing the crossing guards to see where it stands on the change in working conditions. He also has not heard from Bretones about holding a meeting to discuss the issue further.
“We are covering all 13 posts, utilizing guards and substitutes and then we would go to class II officers and, worst-case scenario is police officers,” Chau said. “We haven’t gotten to that stage.”
The mayor said based on comments from parents he expected to receive a lot of applications but received just two.
He reiterated that providing crossing guards is a courtesy to the school district that the city does not have to provide.
“Because we have done it, it has become second nature,” Chau said. “My concern if it does not come to fruition to share the cost, to put out 130-some thousand dollars, that’s several pennies on the tax rate.”