Parents decry officer's removal

Correction appended.

On Oct. 1, an overwhelmed and harried-looking crossing guard stood at the corner of West 237th Street and Independence Avenue. It was 2:40 p.m., dismissal time for the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141, RKA). Cars and school buses swerved around double-parked vehicles on 237th as scores of students streamed out of the school.

Between shepherding students across the busy street, the crossing guard complained to a school safety officer that the double-parked cars should be ticketed and that another guard should be posted at the intersection to handle all the students. She declined to be identified or speak to a reporter.

RKA and the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) occupy two full blocks of this South Riverdale stretch of Independence Avenue, from 237th to 235th streets. In all, more than 2,300 students attend the schools, making those crosswalks extremely busy during arrival and dismissal times.

Traditionally, there have been four crossing guards who monitor three corners in the vicinity: one at 237th and Independence, two at 236th and Independence and one more at 235th and Independence. But near the beginning of the school year, the crossing guard at 237th was removed, according to parents of students. Following complaints from parents, a guard was reassigned to 237th — but one of the guards at 236th was taken away and the area remains a staffer short.

The NYPD oversees the crossing guard program as part of its civilian workforce. The 50th Precinct did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.

Vicki Auerbach, the vice president of RKA’s Parents’ Association (PA), said the group received no explanation for the guard’s removal. At a meeting last month, RKA’s Principal Lori O’Mara informed parents of the situation.

“I don’t know that the principal was told why,” Ms. Auerbach said of Ms. O’Mara, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “As of the last meeting, nothing had been discussed with her.”

So parents complained to the 50th Precinct and sent e-mails to northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen’s office asking for the guard to be reinstated at 237th.