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Fair ‘We’d like our crossing guard restored’
Hamlet loses part-timer who patrolled near W.H. High for years
Sometime in December, without any warning, a school crossing guard who had been stationed at West Hempstead High School for years, at the intersection of Nassau Boulevard and Johnson Lane, was taken away.
“We were under the impression that she had been ill,” said Caryn Fiegelson, co-president of the West Hempstead Elementary PTA. Fiegelson, whose son was hit by a car at the corner of Nassau Boulevard and Hempstead Avenue in October 2014, said she was concerned about the crossing guard’s whereabouts.
She, other residents and school district officials soon learned from Nassau County police, however, that the crossing guard needed to be reallocated. “There had been a school crossing guard at that intersection from before I was superintendent,” said West Hempstead School District chief John Hogan. “We’ve been in touch with Inspector [James] Bartscherer at the 5th Precinct, and he’s been very receptive, but has told us there was nothing he could do because there’s a budgetary issue at the county level. We would like our crossing guard restored.”
According to Newsday, salaries for part-time Nassau County crossing guards ranged from $3,200 to $14,000 in 2014.
A crossing guard is stationed at the West Hempstead middle school, down the block from the high school, and police say that one guard is sufficient.
Some West Hempstead High School parents discovered that the crossing guard had been transferred to Hempstead Avenue in West Hempstead. Nassau police would not confirm or deny their claims.
“You don’t assign a crossing guard to a high school,” said the NCP’s public information officer, Richard LeBrun, adding that the department was very attuned to the needs of the community, and that it works with community members whenever possible.
