Letters
Letter: Crossing guards can't be best things to cut
Published: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 12:39 PM EST
To the Editor:

On Dec. 2, Worthington City Council made the decision to stop providing crossing guards outside Worthington schools. Even though the decision was described as being "controversial," it seems that these type of decisions are becoming more and more common these days.

What was not entirely clear to me after reading the article, "Crossing guards fall victim to 2009 Worthington budget" (Worthington News, Dec. 3), was whether or not Worthington paid for crossing guards at all of the Worthington schools. After reading the next article, "Parents urge school leaders to keep crossing guards at post" (Worthington News, Dec. 10), I learned that Worthington schools pay for the guards for the buildings outside the city of Worthington. The city of Worthington only pays for the guards at those buildings within the Worthington city limits.

They aren't funding those students outside of the city to begin with. Does Worthington really want to stop funding the safety of pedestrian students within its own city limits? What kind of message does that send?

I understand that with the poor economy, we are all cutting back on expenses. I am sure that Worthington City Council felt they were doing the responsible thing in this situation. However, I wonder if there isn't another area that the city could cut out of the budget without putting the students' safety at risk.

Jon Freer