Vienna Proposed Crossing Guard Elimination: Town, County Officials React

VIENNA, VA — After a Vienna Town Council member raised a concern about a proposed elimination in the Fairfax County budget of crossing guard coverage in Vienna, discussions continue to resolve crossing guard coverage. Meanwhile, Fairfax County Police says it is covering crossing guards in Vienna.

Councilmember Howard Springsteen said at Monday's Town Council meeting that the county budget would eliminate the Town of Vienna's crossing guards. That potential removal would affect an estimated nine positions.

"No school in Vienna will have crossing guards for financial reasons, and I regard this as targeting Vienna," said Springsteen.

Springsteen shared with Patch a December letter from the Fairfax County Police Department to the Vienna Police Department. The letter indicated Fairfax County Police would no longer staff nine Vienna locations at the start of the 2024-2025 school year. This includes two crossing guard locations at Cunningham Park Elementary, two at Louise Archer Elementary, two at Marshall Road Elementary, two at Vienna Elementary and one at Thoreau Middle School.

A memo from Fairfax County Deputy Executive Tom Arnold to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors noted Fairfax County Police identified the nine Vienna crossings as well as one in Herndon and one on Fort Belvoir in its annual review of all school crossing locations. Herndon and Fort Belvoir agreed to cover their crossings, and the Fairfax County Police has been having discussions with Vienna Police about transitioning the crossing guard staffing responsibility.

Springsteen told Patch the Town Council has been aware about the issue and decided to share it "when it became painfully apparent" the staffing removal could go through. He believes it is a county responsibility to staff crossing guards at schools and that the Vienna Police Department could not provide staffing.

"The Council has been pretty upset about this. People need to be aware of some of the issues that we deal with behind the scenes," said Springsteen.

But at the Fairfax County Police Department, the deputy county executive said just 53 of 72 crossing guard positions are currently filled.

"When crossing guards are not available, police officers are pulled off of patrol responsibilities to handle the crossing," Arnold wrote. "Due to the number of crossings that are required to be covered each day, dozens of police officers are called upon daily to cover school crossings. During the time deployed at school crossings, FCPD police officers are not available to respond to calls for service or emergencies."

Vienna Police Chief Jim Morris shared that same concern about Vienna Police covering school crossings. In a January letter to Fairfax County Police, Morris noted Fairfax County met with Vienna Police to explain their crossing guard staffing and budget challenges but that Vienna Police cannot provide the staffing for crossing guards. Vienna's police department has refused previous requests to staff school crossings.

"These police officers already have assigned tasks, and staffing nine crossings during two of the busiest calls for service times of the day is not a realistic request," Morris wrote. "If we were to attempt to compromise on this position, we would drastically impact the response times for police officers responding to calls for service within the Town, a service for which the Residents of the town pay additional taxes. To selectively target the Town of Vienna to withdraw services is not appropriate."

Fairfax County Police said in a statement it is covering crossing guards as discussions about crossing guard coverage continue.

"Given the primary jurisdiction responsibilities afforded to the Town of Vienna for law enforcement and public safety, the FCPD has engaged the Vienna Police Department in preliminary discussions surrounding school crossing coverages," the police department said. "As our conversations continue, all school crossing coverages will be handled by the FCPD."

Mayor Linda Colbert said she is working with Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents the town on the Board of Supervisors, to get the crossing guards back into the budget.

"Obviously we need to have crossing guards for our schools," said Colbert.

Alcorn, who notified Vienna's mayor upon learning about the crossing guard change, said in a statement the measure is still a proposal.

"This is one of many proposals and initiatives undertaken by Fairfax County to resolve the shortage of officers available for patrol and responding to calls for service," Alcorn said in a statement. "I have heard from numerous members of the community about concerns with this proposal and we are exploring alternatives. The current system which makes police officers unavailable for emergencies and other calls needs to be updated so that no police officer – whether County or Town – is regularly drawn into that duty."

Deputy County Executive Arnold said in the board memo that the Fairfax County Police Department could make a presentation on the school crossing program to the board's future Safety and Security Committee and make recommendations.

The mayor encouraged residents to express concerns with the budget at Alcorn's upcoming town hall Wednesday, March 20. The meeting is at Patrick Henry Library in Vienna at 7 p.m. Another budget town hall is virtual at 7 p.m. on March 25. Residents can join the virtual meeting through Microsoft Teams or call in to 571-429-5982 with conference call ID: 952 967 568#.

Residents may also provide feedback on the budget to Alcorn at huntermill@fairfaxcounty.gov or testify at the April 16 to 18 budget public hearings.