Crossing Guards Report for Temporary Duty at Ebeling, Beck Centennial

Amid greetings and best wishes for the first day of school, parents could also be heard voicing their joy and relief at seeing Cathy Polhemus and Linda Depotter once again stationed at their crossing guard posts.

“They are definitely needed,” said Joy Johnson, while walking her daughter to Ebeling’s kindergarten today. “We’re talking a 5-year-old crossing a busy road. People don’t respect the stop signs. Who is going to train the parents to stop and let them through? In winter, they don’t even acknowledge the stop.”

While pleased to see the guards on the first day of school, both parents and crossing guards recognized the temporary nature of the situation. 

“I was told I’m here temporarily until they train the kids,” Polhemus said. “I’m just here to start off the school year.”

Polhemus, Depotter and their counterparts at Beck Centennial will be employed by Macomb Township only until students successfully complete a safety program conducted by Wayne State and SEMCOG.

Once the initial training process is deemed “successfully completed” by SEMCOG and Wayne State’s re-evaluation team, all crossing guards will be removed.

An Ebeling crossing guard for 10 years, Polhemus has seen traffic at the Haverhill-Tilch intersection grow from that of a subdivision to that of a major thoroughfare connecting Garfield and Hayes roads. Despite the intersection having a four-way stop, she is still skeptical drivers will give the right-of-way to walking students.

“I’m not really sure how they could not have a crossing guard here,” Polhemus said. “The kids are little, so they are not going to be seen over the cars. It’s so chaotic that the drivers are not looking for the kids who are crossing. It's a half hour of organized chaos."

Ebeling parent Jennifer Grabinski has been following the crossing guard issue through the summer months and stands firm in her belief that guards are needed and it is the township’s responsibility to provide them.

“The law says the township should pay,” Grabinski said. “That’s what our tax money goes for.”

While Michigan law does stipulate that local law enforcement agencies are responsible for school crossing guards, the roads that require crossing guards are defined as county highways–a definition that does not include the roads surrounding Beck and Ebeling.

In addition, because no record can be found that Utica Community Schools followed the law in establishing Ebeling and Beck Centennial's crossing guard zones, Macomb Township Supervisor Mark Grabow said there is no legal precedent mandating those zones be manned by crossing guards.

So while crossing guards are on-site now, they are expected to be removed within the next three months.