Crossing Guards Need Facts on Pay

Once again, crossing guards are on the agenda as a discussion item. The council meeting is 7:30 p.m. in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.

Here are some past Plaintalker excerpts on the issue of crossing guard pay:
September 2008

As the City Council prepares for budget deliberations for FY 2009, school crossing guards came out in force Monday to ask for higher pay and other demands.The crossing guards currently make $10 t0 $13 per hour, but need to make $15 per hour in order to qualify for unemployment when school is out, a spokesman said.In addition, jackets assigned to guards are designed for men and do not fit full-figured female guards, representative Melvin Cody said.The city currently has 43 designated spots requiring school crossing guards, but only 34 guards, Cody said. Sworn officers must then cover the crossings at a much higher pay rate.

January 2013

In public comment, resident Melvin Cody said crossing guards deserve a raise and crossing guard William Shaw said he had served 10 years with only "one decent raise." Shaw said crossing guards in Westfield get $19 per hour and vigorously argued for an increase here, citing the guards' service in all weather and an instance where a guard took on a fatherly role in dissuading a young girl from using bad language. Mapp, Storch, Brown and Williams spoke in favor of considering a raise during the budget process. But City Administrator Eric Berry said, "Consider it done," and the audience, including several crossing guards, broke into applause.

June 2013

Budget lines that were cut included crossing guards, despite a recent plea for a raise. The $15,000 decrease in salaries and wages and $3,000 cut in other expenses matched what was actually spent last year, officials said.

Click for a post on crossing guards' pay from May 2015. 


From a Sept. 12, 2015 post:

Crossing Guards - Rivers said crossing guards told her they only got a 22-cent raise.City Administrator Rick Smiley said the guards were included in a recent salary ordinance, but Rivers said the guards said they had not gotten a raise. Councilwoman Vera Greaves said if they only got 22 cents, it was an insult. Councilwoman Tracey Brown said they provide a vital service Rivers again insisted the raise was 22 cents.

No one was present from the crossing guards to clarify the matter. In May, a large number of crossing guards came to a council meeting to protest not having a raise, but were informed of thesalary ordinance that increased their maximum pay from $14.30 hourly to $19.

Commentary: Melvin Cody, who served as spokesman for the crossing guards, passed away in April 2014. As it appears in the post from May 2015, crossing guards came to the council meeting ready to protest when in fact their item was on the agenda, included in a salary ordinance. I mentioned this to some of the crossing guards who were waiting before the meeting, but they had been given a different impression and were told to show up.

The crossing guards are under the Police Division and it would seem relevant to have either the police liaison to the guards or Personnel Director Karen Dabney give background on the issues, which according to past