Crossing guard staffing in Somerville is just above half capacity, officials learned at a Wednesday City Council committee meeting.
“We’re at such a low number, we will do anything to put a body at a corner, even if it’s one day a week,” said police Sgt. Michael McCarey at the Equity, Gender, Seniors, Families and Vulnerable Populations Committee meeting.
The meeting followed news three children were hit by cars outside of schools this academic year.
One Kennedy elementary school student was hit on Elm Street in January, officials learned recently, and two students from the high school, one at Vinal and Highland avenues and the other in a Medford Street crosswalk – none seriously injured. Councilor Kristen Strezo called the meeting with a plea: How do we “prevent a child from dying tomorrow morning … what are we doing this month, April 2025, to fix a problem of the shortage of crossing guards?”
Police report 31 guards working – another four are inactive for medical reasons – out of a possible 58 funded positions. That leaves a gap of at least a dozen guards and a supervisor, assuming the four inactive employees return.
There is encouraging news that by mid-May as many as 45 crossing guards will be active, with 10 candidates now going through training, and “all of the crossing guards that we currently have have indicated they will be back next season,” McCarey said.
Recruitment, not retention, has been the challenge; police lose only one or two crossing guards annually, he said, and the only “exodus” was when vaccinations were required during the Covid pandemic. Still, he praised the efforts of the city’s Human Resources department in finding candidates, some of whom have been redirected after applying for other positions with the city.
Though the department could get more selective, “we haven’t said no to anybody at this point,” McCarey said. “I wouldn’t turn anybody away.”
Crossing guard shortages are a regional problem exacerbated by strange and short, split-shift hours and low pay, said Strezo, giving “props” to the city for raising pay for Somerville crossing-guard work.
More communication, less jaywalking
Beyond hiring, an emphasis of the meeting was on coordination of communications between the police and schools and an increased police presence at Vinal and Highland avenues, where a no-left-turn sign has been posted yet “car after car still turn left into a crosswalk and teenagers,” Strezo said.
Traffic officers and a traffic lieutenant have been placed at the intersection and school administrators are working to publicize the problem, police said. Students are also being asked to do their part by crossing only where they’re supposed to, especially across Highland Avenue at Vinal Avenue.
Strezo gave her own “very stern mom look for the teenagers” over their confusing of traffic patterns by crossing outside the marked areas.
There may have been a fourth student hit this year in traffic, Strezo said, but officials and staff couldn’t pin it down. Police only became aware of the three confirmed incidents much later and in one case, “through word of mouth,” McCarey said, encouraging school administrators and parents to reach out to police directly and immediately, even for minor incidents.
Engineering for the long term
Director of mobility Brad Rawson, who attended to discuss the city’s long-term strategy to make roads safer, acknowledged that “everybody is saying that we feel scared” for the youth.
Enforcement by crossing guards and police is a temporary solution, Rawson said, and the city looks to engineer slower and safer streets long-term through narrowing and other traffic calming measures.
There were 50 reported pedestrian crashes in 2019 and only 30 crashes last year after the city added 110 traffic-calming features such as raised crosswalks, speed bumps and crossing islands, Rawson said.
“Part of the reason that we think that these trend lines are moving in the right direction is because of this city’s commitment to physical traffic calming, which … takes a little longer to plan and deploy,” Rawson said expressing optimism “because of the solidarity of this community, residents, advocates and activists, elected officials, staff, our nonprofit partners and NGOs.”
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.
Jaywalking is not the problem. Rawson is right the only long term solution is safer infrastructure.
Along with construction site oversight, this is a prime example of a job which does not require the police. Let’s find a way to remove these positions from the expense and potential danger of policing and provide employment to people from our communities.