MUSD 'still assessing the need' for more crossing guards

(File photo)

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Facing pressure from parents to restore more of the crossing guard positions that were removed by Menifee Union School District last spring, MUSD and Menifee Police Department officials say they are continuing to monitor traffic patterns and that placement of additional crossing guards might occur.

Complaints on social media about the safety of students have been frequent since before the start of the school year. MUSD announced on Aug. 10 that it was returning up to 35 crossing guards to district school sites and adjacent streets, but that action only partially reversed the district’s decision to eliminate crossing guards last April.

At the time, superintendent Jennifer Root said district officials decided to eliminate crossing guards after consulting with their insurance carrier and legal counsel about liability. Bringing back some crossing guards this month was welcomed by parents of MUSD students, but there have been complaints that 35 crossing guards for the entire district is well short of previous years and insufficient.

This morning, a 13-year-old girl on a bicycle was struck by a vehicle while crossing Menifee Road at La Piedra Road, near the new Menifee Library and down the street from Bell Mountain Middle School. According to Menifee Police Chief Pat Walsh, the vehicle “clipped her, causing her to fall.” The child, who was in the crosswalk, suffered minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital as a precaution, Walsh said.

That busy intersection does not have traffic signals, although it is one of the sites scheduled to have signals in the near future. It has been patrolled by crossing guards in the past, but none are there this school year. According to the MUSD’s current policy, crossing guards were approved only for school zones or within 1,500 feet of each school. That excludes several locations were there previously were crossing guards at nearby busy intersections.

Jennifer Padgett lives near MUSD school Herk Bouris Elementary School just beyond the west border of the City of Menifee. Padgett said she emailed officials from MUSD and the cities of Menifee and Lake Elsinore with her concerns about the intersection of Canyon Hills Road and Angels Falls Drive, which is adjacent to the outer fields of the school but more than 1,500 feet from the front of the school.

Padgett told Menifee 24/7 that, without a crossing guard at the site, she witnessed several “near misses” between vehicles running the stop sign and children in the crosswalk in the first few days of school.

"Before school [on Aug. 13], six vehicles completely ran the stop sign between 7 a.m. and 7:45 a.m.; four different vehicles rolled the stop sign and went through the orange crosswalk while I was in the crosswalk, crossing district elementary aged school students as young as 6 years old," Padgett said. On Aug. 16, she said. "Two residents (who are grandmothers) helped with crossing and reiterated to me that cars do not stop and go through crosswalks while children are being crossed."

Padgett’s persistence in reaching out to district and city officials appears to have helped at that school site. MUSD superintendent Jennifer Root wrote in an Aug. 25 email to Menifee 24/7 that, “We have worked with the City of Lake Elsinore and our parents to identify that there is a controlled intersection nearby and we have rerouted students to that intersection, which is within the school zone and has a crossing guard.”

Padgett agreed that the situation is improving. Monitoring the other locations is an ongoing process. Root was not immediately available for comment after today’s incident near Bell Mountain Middle School, but in a previous interview, she said the following:

“We continue to work with our city and the cities involved to assess traffic patterns now that our schools are reopened and will continue to place [crossing guards] within school zones as needs are identified. As mentioned previously, we have met with the City of Menifee and continue to be engaged with the City on this collective responsibility to our community. We have also been in contact with staff for other cities where we have schools located.”

Rochelle Clayton, assistant city manager for the City of Menifee, confirmed that City officials met with MUSD officials in June to discuss the matter.

“Just prior to schools going back into session, and for the past two weeks, Menifee Public Works, Traffic Engineering and Menifee Police have been working with the schools on traffic flow and safety during student drop off and pick up,” Clayton wrote recently in an email to Menifee 24/7. “These measures include traffic and parking enforcement and education, and traffic signal monitoring. The City’s traffic engineer has been monitoring traffic signals adjacent to schools to modify timing and add additional pedestrian walk times where necessary.”

Root was asked how many fewer crossing guards the district employs now than in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are not at a point to be able to answer that, as we are still assessing the need and making placements as warranted,” Root responded in an Aug. 20 email. “In regards to the City, our summer meeting was with Nick Fidler, Chief Walsh, and the city manager [Armando Villa]. We also have great contact with [Captain] Chris Karrer from the police department and will be working with [Sergeant] Matthew Bloch moving forward as well.”