Haldane School Crossing Guard Carol Herring has been missing from her typical post: helping students of all ages cross Main Street. A police officer has been filling her role for several weeks, leading many students to become concerned about Herring. Tom Herring, the crossing guard for students on 9D, and Carol Herring’s son, provided an explanation: Herring had fallen down the stairs at home and fractured her arm. She is otherwise unharmed and should be back at her post this spring.
This temporary absence gives students an opportunity to reflect on the importance of crossing guards to our school routines. When prompted to describe her experience with Carol Herring, freshman Silvia Hardman noted how “she would always make small talk with me and was a good friend.”
Haldane’s crossing guards are deeply entrenched in the community, but people know very little about what their jobs are like. New York General Municipal Law Section 208-A leaves “duly constituted authorities of any city, town, or village or any county police department or police district” in charge of hiring as few or as many crossing guards as they see fit to help people walk to their school or place of worship. While schools can enter an agreement with the village to hire more crossing guards, the crossing guards are not employees of the school. All crossing guards in New York are required to complete six days of training at the Police Academy after being hired. The crossing guard profession was rated the 12th most dangerous job in America in 2020, according to Industrial Safety and Hygiene News. Its fatality rate is 19 per 100,000 workers, with transportation incidents being the leading cause. The median hourly wage for crossing guards and flaggers in the USA is $17.48, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Appreciating Haldane’s crossing guards and the work they do for the safety of the wider community is important, especially when these services aren’t legally required to be funded. In close-knit communities such as Cold Spring, this acknowledgement is even more important. Tom Herring estimates he started as a crossing guard in 1999 and has been working mornings and afternoons since then, in fall, winter, and spring.
Even in a small town, our busy roads are a dangerous place for pedestrians. According to a 2007 study in The Transportation Research Record, nearly 600 young pedestrians and bicyclists under the age of 16 are killed nationwide in crashes involving motor vehicles each year, and 30,000 additional young walkers and bikers sustain serious injuries. Those students who walk regularly to and from school have the opportunity to thank those who do the important work of protecting the community from danger on the roadways.
