New Leadership is Coming to Charleston County’s School Crossing Guard Program | WCIV

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — During Tuesday’s Charleston City Council meeting, members learned about a change coming to the School Crossing Guard Officer program.

“Who don’t like the school crossing guard? The children do, the parents do, the grandparents certainly do,” says Keith Waring, District 7 councilmember.

Crossing the street may be easy, but for school crossing guards, it’s their obligation to make sure kids do this simple task safely.

“We have a morning shift, an afternoon shift, so we get here about 6:45, and whenever the kids are crossing the road, we just cross them in the crosswalk and make sure cars are not hitting anybody,” says Ronna Zoucha-Budynski, a school crossing officer.

Right now, the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of school crossing guards, but that responsibility is being handed over to the school district. Thirty schools have at least one or more officers, and 10 schools don’t have any.

Councilmembers say despite the switch, they hope a crossing guard remains at every school.“When it comes to being cost effective, they’re part time,” Waring said. “They work a couple hours in the morning, a couple hours in the afternoon. I look at that as being essential, and before Covid, we didn’t have the term ‘essential,’ but we certainly have it now.”

Source: New leadership is coming to Charleston County’s School Crossing Guard program | WCIV