Wachter gets crossing guard to help improve kids’ safety in the morning

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – To make sure students are safe during morning drop-off, Wachter Middle School hired a crossing guard.

As parents are rushing to drop off their children in the morning, it can be dangerous, but luckily students are safer with a new crossing guard.

“I would say they slow down when they see me walking out there because a lot of times they see the kids, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes some of them are smaller than others and they’ll sneak up on you,” said Jacob Fray, instructional aid and crossing guard.

After parents expressed concern for the safety of their kids, the school coordinated with local law enforcement.

“Our local police department, they were kind of helping us monitor traffic. And that was one of the suggestions that they gave was getting a crossing guard over in that area, just because there’s so much traffic,” said Principal Lee Ziegler.

A number of years ago, the school had a crossing guard after students were hit at Denver and University by the stoplight. He says the hardest thing was finding someone to fill the morning slot.

“I think it’s been a lot of fun. I know most of the kids that are out there anyway, say ‘hi’ to them, and I’ve gotten used to which ones come by which time that I kind of know what time it is when certain kids come by,” said Fray.

While parents are driving through, he acts as a reminder for them to slow down.

“I feel that parents are more aware. And hopefully, they are just slowing down in general,” said Ziegler.

He’s also hoping that once the snowdrifts melt and it gets lighter in the mornings, it will be easier for parents to see.

“Part of it is too the time of year, I mean, you know, you’re dropping kids off in the dark. And so, you know, people aren’t being as aware as they should. And so there’s just a lot of kid movement and of course, now we’ve got all this snow,” said Ziegler.

Fray has been the crossing guard for a couple of weeks and says even though it’s cold in the morning he doesn’t mind as long as the kids get into school safely.

They have both received positive feedback from parents who now feel like their students are safer in the mornings.

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