OAKLAND — Sixteen Oakland schools could get crossing guards by next school year if a councilwoman’s plan goes through.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan has introduced a resolution to allocate $320,000 of Measure BB funds in the 2018-19 fiscal year to hire crossing guards for 16 schools throughout Oakland — ideally, two per council district, she said in an interview. Council members Noel Gallo and Annie Campbell-Washington are co-sponsoring the resolution.
Measure BB is a half-cent sales tax increase passed by Alameda County voters in 2014 that’s set to generate about $8 billion over 30 years for transportation improvements. Kaplan said she had proposed the idea last year, but was told by city officials that Measure BB funds earmarked for Oakland were tapped. After some projects fell through, she said, the money became available.
“The crossing guards are paid for in a variety of different ways, but we know there’s a ton of schools that don’t have them,” Kaplan said. “What ends up happening is the poorest schools don’t get them and it’s a real safety issue for the public, so we need to have them in more schools. It’s a common request that comes up in meetings.”
The current draft of the resolution calls for each of the eight city council members to pick two schools in their district to get crossing guards; each school would get about $20,000 for crossing guards.
In addition to helping children cross streets safely, crossing guards can help reduce bullying, harassment and violence by keeping an eye on children while they are outside school grounds, Kaplan said. The crossing guards could allow parents to be more comfortable allowing their children to ride bicycles or walk to school, she said.
“It’s a very small amount of money for a very big benefit to the community,” Kaplan said.
The resolution is scheduled to go before the city council’s public works committee April 10 before going to the full council.