Anaheim May Quit Paying for School Crossing Guards : Safety: The Police Department spends $448,000 a year to provide 51 of the monitors for elementary schools but is questioning the expense.

ANAHEIM —  The city may no longer be able to pay for school crossing guards, which may force the school districts to use volunteers or older students to escort children across the street, the police chief said.

Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy said his department spends $448,000 a year to provide 51 crossing guards outside elementary schools in the city, a service it may no longer be able to afford. The City Council is discussing whether to cut $2.4 million from the department’s $50.8-million annual allocation because of citywide budget problems.

“I feel the school districts have some alternatives,” Molloy said. “They can charge a fee for the service to parents who want it. They can recruit volunteers. Or they can bring back the old-style safety programs where students or young adults are the crossing guards. We’re not saying that the safety of kids is not important, but this is something that needs to be looked at.”

Anaheim City School District Supt. Meliton Lopez said his district is facing budget problems of its own and could not afford to pay for the crossing-guard program. He said depending on volunteers or a student safety patrol would be impractical and potentially dangerous under most circumstances.

“I realize the city is having to reduce its budget and I’m willing to try to find alternatives, but the safety of the kids has to be first and foremost,” Lopez said.

The district already has a shortage of volunteers, Lopez said, and it is unrealistic to expect to find enough volunteers to staff all 51 positions before school and after school daily.

“Not that many adults in this city have that much free time because they have to work,” Lopez said. “It’s not like the old days. Crossing guards have to be willing to be out there every day, even in the pouring rain. Volunteers may not want to do that.”

A student safety patrol might be feasible on a few less traveled streets, Lopez said, but not most places.

“We have very busy thoroughfares in this city--Brookhurst, Euclid, Harbor and Lincoln,” Lopez said. “I would never let a child get in front of cars on those streets and try to stop traffic.”