NORWAY – A crossing guard who helped school children traverse Main Street quit last week, saying it was too stressful. Now, parents are upset that police have suggested a replacement might be unnecessary.
Terry Stevens, who lives on Greenleaf Avenue in Norway, has a daughter who walks across Main Street to Guy E. Rowe Elementary School.
“I was like, excuse me?” she said Friday, describing her reaction at a recent parent/teacher meeting to hearing that the town had not jumped to hire a new guard.
“I couldn’t believe it. You see stories in the paper about how they want to redo that intersection because it is dangerous, but you have no problem sending children to cross that street by themselves,” she said Friday.
Roger Bathalon, 75, of Norway, said he left his position as crosswalk guard because of the traffic and bad weather. “There is too much speeding over there, and nothing is controlling it,” he said Friday. He said, too, that standing outside in the cold and ice was uncomfortable.
The school and the police have split the responsibility for guarding the two crosswalks in front of the school.
The school is on the corner of Main, Lower Main and Paris streets.
Police have traditionally hired a crossing guard for the intersection of Main and Paris streets, a position that pays $2,500 a year, Police Chief Rob Federico said Friday.
Since Bathalon quit Oct. 7, police have monitored the crosswalk. Federico said he has not seen one child use it. He said there is no need to waste tax money “for someone to stand there for no children at all.”
Federico said he plans to watch the crosswalk again next week, mornings and afternoons. If fewer than 10 children use the crosswalk, Federico said, it would make more sense to train the children to use the school’s crosswalk about 150 feet away, rather than hiring a new guard.
Federico also said police regularly run radar in the mornings in front of the school. Since the start of the school year, they have caught one speeder.
Bathalon, who started the job last year, said that after watching too many vehicles barrel by him, he asked police to lend him a vest, badge and whistle to help him control rushing traffic. “People were literally speeding down both sides of the street, and big trucks would not stop. They would go right by us,” he said.
Federico said he turned down Bathalon’s request for the equipment because he did not want to foster the impression that Bathalon was a policeman. “There is quite a difference between crossing guards and police officers, and we wanted to keep that distinct line,” he said.
Stevens also wondered why police could not monitor the post. But Federico said officers at any moment could be called to an emergency.
Federico said he will make a decision about hiring a replacement after further evaluation, but that whatever conclusion he reaches would not be set in stone. Some years, many children use the crosswalk, and other years, none do, he said. It depends on where they are coming from.
Bathalon said there were fewer children lately. “There were more children last year. Many more last year. Most of those kids have gone on to high school. There’s a new crop over there now,” he said.
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