Published: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009

Updated: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009

Crossing guard cuts concern parents

BRADENTON — The dismissal bell rings at Ballard Elementary on Friday and students begin to trickle out.

Some children, accompanied by an older sibling or parent, start their trek home.

That’s when Robert Perry, the school’s lone crossing guard, gets busy on the corner of Ninth Avenue West and 18th Street. A school staff member mans another corner.

Earlier this school year, the Bradenton Police Department removed two crossing guards from intersections near the school. The move disturbed some parents, who are worried about the hectic traffic.

“I don’t live far but I do get nervous,” said Stephanie Morgan, who walks her second-grade daughter to and from school from their home in the 2200 block of Ninth Avenue West. “Sometimes they (drivers) don’t pay attention and they speed down the road.”

As they do every year, Bradenton Police Department officers evaluated the need for crossing guards within the city limits.

Last August, at the beginning of the school year, officers saw no children crossing Ninth Avenue West at 14th Street and 26th Street, said Bradenton Deputy Chief J.J. Lewis. The officers conducted a monthlong evaluation, visiting the sites on three different days of the week.

After the evaluation, officers eliminated guards in those locations and three others near Moody and Miller elementary schools and Sugg Middle, he said. Spokesmen for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Palmetto Police Department said the two agencies did not change their crossing guards lineup this school year.

“It was based entirely on whether any children were crossing there,” Lewis said.

Removing guards from empty intersections saves the city 75 hours of wages a week, he said. Crossing guards are paid $11 an hour.

Manatee County school district officials say they also are looking into whether the guards’ removal posts any safety concerns for students.

They have asked the police department to conduct other observations to see whether children are using those two intersections near Ballard Elementary.

When the district’s Director of Planning, Jeff Asher, visited one of the intersections recently, he saw two children crossing the street by themselves. On another day, he didn’t see any.

Asher said at Ballard Elementary there are about 60 students who walk, 144 car riders, about 109 students who ride day care vans and one school bus.

But it’s sometimes hard to gauge exactly how many students are walking to get home or to a babysitter’s, said Asher and Ballard Principal Mary Bidwell.

Sometimes, parents would ask their children to meet them a block away from the school so they can avoid after-school traffic in front of the school, she said.

“What we have to figure out is how many kids actually walk,” Bidwell said.

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said his department will gladly do another evaluation.

“We don’t want to waste city taxpayers’ dollars and we want to make sure we are doing it correctly, and doing it economically,” he said. “We’re happy to look at it.”

Meanwhile, parents remain wary of the vehicles traversing the main roads near the school.

Evelyn Cumbie, who lives off Ballard Park Drive, said she will avoid crossing 14th Street and Ninth Avenue. She said she sees police officers slowing down traffic on some days, but realizes “they can’t always be out there.”

Parent Amanda Jesse, who walks her 7-year-old daughter to school, said she thinks there should be more guards.

“It concerns me because there are parents who aren’t able to accompany their children,” she said. “Because it’s so close to the school, they need a responsible adult to stop traffic.”