In May 2010, Talk of the Sound reported on the City of New Rochelle continuing to employ crossing guards during the lunchtime hours more than a year after the New Rochelle Board of Education went to full day kindergarten and eliminated the need to cross students at lunchtime.
New Rochelle schools have full day kindergarten across the entire city. There is no mid-day dismissal at all in New Rochelle. So, why do we still have 18 crossing guards working a two hour lunch shift? There are no children to cross.
During his budget press conference last December, Chuck Strome, responding to a question from Talk of the Sound, said the issue would be addressed in 2011 but was not specific. With the school year now ended, Talk of the Sound checked in with the City to determine the latest on this story.
In an update, City spokesperson Kathy Gilwit provided the following information:
Contractual obligations continue until the end of the year, so work hours have been adjusted as allowable. As positions are vacated, School Crossing Guard positions are being filled as temporary employees not covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement at $60 per work day.
In other words, even though City Manager Chuck Strome and Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak meet once a month to discuss ways to save money through “shared services”, the City signed a three year contract to pay people not to work just months before the School District eliminated the need for the workers during the lunch time hours. As a result, New Rochelle taxpayers get to pay about $250,000 over the life of the contract for people to sit around reading books, talk on their cell phone and eat lunch in their car while listening to the radio on the public dime. As a result, these people will continue to be paid until the contract ends in December 2011.
If these two highly paid government employees are not talking about issues like this during their monthly meetings then what are they talking about? Perhaps school board members and City Council members could ask them to provide a list of their accomplishments in reducing costs through shared services as a result of these meetings — not a list of what they might do in the future but a list of what they have actually done.
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