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PEP Sept 2016
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Public Employee Press

Union blitz to help hire more School Crossing Guards



By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Fifteen hundred hopeful job applicants responded to a citywide call for more School Crossing Guards when DC 37 held two hiring hall events at its headquarters on July 25 and Aug. 8.

"The New York Post wrote an article saying Police were crossing school children. We felt they had scapegoated Crossing Guards and the union," said Donald Nesbit, Local 372 executive vice president. "So we met with NYPD and formed a committee in May, and with the union's Schools Division we put together a hiring hall to expedite the application process."

Union leaders met with the Police Dept. supervisors who hire and supervise Crossing Guards to address the dwindling numbers of School Crossing Guards working throughout the five boroughs. DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido and Board of Education Employees Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I decided to open the union hall to the NYPD and jobseekers.

"After blitzing social media and neighborhoods with flyers, we received over 1,000 inquiries; our cut off was 600 applicants for the first event," said Assistant Director David Boyd of the DC 37 Schools Division. Because the July hiring hall was so successful, the union added another on Aug. 8, and saw a 50 percent increase in participation.

NYPD personnel interviewed and screened applicants and sent some for medical exams.

After conducting background checks, NYPD will hire 400 School Crossing Guards in September at about $11.50 an hour, plus union benefits. Assigned to a local police precinct, the new School Crossing Guards will work part-time, 20 to 25 hours a week.

"We are the first line of defense between the kids and cars," said Crossing Guard Chapter Chair Denise Ferrante, who works near P.S. 62 on Staten Island's busy Bloomingdale Road. "Drivers can be dangerously aggressive. They're in a rush. I make sure everyone crossing- the children and even seniors - is safe."
















 
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