Crossing Guard Study to Look at Resource Allocation

This spring's study of crossing guards will focus on the current distribution of crossing guards townwide.

With over 50 crossing guards townwide, Police Chief John Parizeau told Westfield Patch that he is looking for data on where the personnel are distributed and which intersections need the crossing guards the most. These will include looking at intersections that do not presently have crossing guards. Westfield has the highest number of crossing guards in the western half of the county.

"We are looking for numbers," Parizeau said. "We want to see if there are spots that are underutilized."

He said this will look specifically at the current locations which have crossing guards and new locations which could use crossing guards. The results of the study could result in existing guards being transferred from one intersection to the other. Parizeau said the Board of Education's decision last year to redistrict various northside schools helped necessitate the need for the study.

One area the study will look at is the times that people are crossing at various intersections. Parizeau said that crossing guards could be redistributed if needed based on the times that are determined to be peak crossing periods.

Parizeau said he is not aware of the intersection of Highland and Sinclair being included in the study. The intersection is the site of a controversial crosswalk which was installed last fall. Brian and Karen Karnofsky, who live at the intersection, led opposition to the crosswalk saying it was too close to their driveway and would be a safety hazard to children because of traffic in and out of the driveway. The Karnofskys also noted the traffic flow at the intersection fed into the new crosswalk. They proposed moving the crosswalk, which crosses Highland, to the other side of Sinclair.

The Town Council did not adopt the Karkofskys' recommendation that a new traffic study be conducted regarding the intersection. When the issue took the forefront of public policy discussion in the fall, the Council noted that a crossing guard could be considered for the intersection.

Councilwoman Joann Neylan, the chairman of the public safety committee, announced during Tuesday evening's Town Council meeting that the crossing guard study would be a top public safety focus of town government in the spring. During her brief remarks, she reiterated comments she made at last week's Council workshop meeting - along with Pariazeau's comments - that the crossing guard study is needed.

"We will determine if we need to make adjustments," she said.