It’s time to pass on crossing guard responsibility to residents

Dear Editor,

At the O’Fallon City Council meeting Monday evening, I chose to speak for my children, many of my friends and fellow parents about the vote against the ending of the crossing guard program.

I would also like to state that because of my late mother, I have been a child of the O’Fallon Police Department family since the early 1980’s and have watched this city grow extremely fast.

I do not feel that the police should continue to keep this program. It is time to pass the responsibility, if not to the school district, then to the parents. I have a son attending Estelle Kampmeyer, where a crossing guard is vitally needed at the cross section of Smiley and Wesley as it is extremely busy.

I was given my time to speak and was very happy about the response of my hopeful solutions.

However, afterward, I was disheartened by a comment made by an alderwoman who made a statement that her kids who attended Central didn’t need a crossing guard and obviously voted NO.

I am not sure how you can treat every school the same way.

Central is the only elementary school that is not surrounded by residential homes on all sides.

Estelle Kampmeyer, as well as Laverna Evans,Delores Moye and J.E. Hinchcliffe are in a predominately residential zones. Because of the distance from the residence to the school, there are many areas with no bus service. There are many more students that have to walk to school. I have seen children, as well as adults busy on their way to work, not paying attention to the rules of a four-way intersection.

Luckily, they have had the crossing guards to protect them to cross safety. We need to ensure that we have a crossing guard in place.

We as parents decided to have these children and raise them in this great town and it is our responsibly to make sure they get to school to and from school safely.

When this finally happens, then will the OPD be able to police the morning commute effectively. I would only hope that our children in the future could create relationships with the greats, such as the late James Carroll and Effie Lombard who protected our children with love and care.

Megan Roussel Breeding

O’Fallon

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 2:32 PM with the headline "It’s time to pass on crossing guard responsibility to residents."