No school, no crossing guards in Clintonville
By Bert Lehman
The city of Clintonville will not supply school crossing guards elementary school students are doing virtual learning.
The decision affects two intersections by Rexford Longfellow Elementary School and St. Martin Lutheran School.
After several weeks of discussing the matter, the council approved removing the crossing guards when it met Nov. 19.
Ald. Steve Kettenhoven voted against discontinuing the crossing guard service. Ald. Julie Stumbris and Tammy Strey-Hirt were excused from the meeting.
City Administrator Sharon Evelend addressed the issue in a Nov. 4 memo to members of the council.
In the memo, Eveland noted that the city had been supplying crossing guards at the intersection of Hemlock and 8th Street for students of St. Martin Lutheran School, even though public school students were doing virtual learning.
Taxpayer funded
Eveland said the crossing guards are funded by the city and the Clintonville School District, and St. Martin Lutheran School does not contribute to that fund.
“Due to this, we should not be funding those costs in the School Safety Resource Fund as it is not fair to the CSD (Clintonville School District) that their funds go to providing a service to the private school,” Eveland said in the memo.
Eveland recommended the crossing guard expenses that the city had incurred to date as a result of providing crossing guard services to St. Martin Lutheran School be transferred from the School Safety Resource Fund to the Clintonville Police Department’s general fund. She also advised the council that it would need to decide whether the city should provide crossing guard services to St. Martin Lutheran School when the public elementary school students are doing virtual learning.
When the council discussed the issue at its Nov. 19 meeting, Eveland said she contacted St. Martin Lutheran School, which is located in the same vicinity as the public elementary school, to see if it would be willing to pay for having crossing guards working on days the public elementary school is closed because students are learning virtually.
“From their perspective, because there are so few kids who come through there, that for them, it would just make more sense to be able to go out there and provide that service themselves as long as we give them a heads up,” Eveland said. “Which I don’t really think is an issue.”
She added, “The impression that I got did not seem like they were overly concerned one way or the other. They were just not in the position to contribute funds to the cost of the crossing guards.”
Ald. Jim Supanich said he is not in favor of crossing guards by St. Martin Lutheran School if the public school is closed, and St. Martin says it doesn’t need crossing guards and isn’t willing to help fund the cost.
“I have a problem supplying taxpayer service to an entity that’s not paying taxes,” Supanich said.
Ald. Steve Kettenhoven disagreed, stating that the parents of the students at St. Martin Lutheran School are taxpayers within the community.
Council President Mike Hankins countered and said the parents of students at St. Rose St. Mary’s School in Clintonville are taxpayers in the community, but there are not crossing guards by that school.
“The fact that we’re providing for it has been more a side result of the fact that we’re offing it for the public elementary and the public school is contributing to those costs,” Hankins said. “I think those are significant issues here.”
Eveland said that she learned that in the past, there were times when the city couldn’t provide a crossing guard, and there were instances when a representative from St. Martin Lutheran School performed crossing guard duties in those situations.
Eveland said half of the crossing guard cost is paid for by the Clintonville School District. She added that the city spends about $17,000 per year to pay for crossing guards near the elementary school.
Freitag discusses public safety
During the course of the debate at several meetings, Clintonville Police Chief Craig Freitag recommended that the city continue to provide crossing guard services for St. Martin Lutheran School, even if the public school is closed to in-person learning.
“I think we have a responsibility, it doesn’t matter if the school is paying or not or if you’re a taxpayer, you need our assistance, you’re in our city, we don’t ask the question if you’re paying taxes or not,” Freitag said at the Nov. 2 Finance Committee meeting.
At the Nov. 19 council meeting, Freitag said the city supplied crossing guards by the elementary school before the Clintonville School District agreed to pay for part of the cost of that service.
Freitag asked the board if it would consider not providing crossing guards in the area if the public school decided not to pay for part of the service cost.
“Whether those kids are public or private (school students), you know, they’re in the city of Clintonville, and people who do not pay taxes here do use our resources. We do provide public safety to people who do not pay taxes here. I will respect the decision you make tonight and do whatever you guys decide.”
A new ordinance that would legally allow non-city employees to be crossing guards was approved by the council.