Audit cites 'concerning' decline in Pittsburgh crossing guards

In an audit of Pittsburgh’s school crossing guards, City Controller Michael Lamb highlighted a decrease in the ratio of crossing guards to students and urged a pay raise for crossing guards.

Housed within the Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Administration, school crossing guards are tasked with helping students and pedestrians across busy intersections, directing traffic, assisting in emergencies and monitoring intersections for dangerous activities.

Though the city budgeted for 82 school crossing guards this year, Pittsburgh employed only 61 crossing guards as of June.

Lamb’s audit encouraged the city to establish a student-to-guard ratio, as the number of guards compared to students has dropped in recent years.

From 2000 to 2022, the number of budgeted school crossing guards dropped by 60.6%, according to the audit. The number of Pittsburgh Public Schools students declined by 36.3% over the same period.

That means the student-to-guard ratio went from one guard per 241 students in 2000 to one guard for every 389 students this year.

The City Controller’s office called the numbers a “concerning” decline.

Lamb suggested that increasing wages for school crossing guards — about 90% of whom are women — could help with hiring and retention.

The audit further encouraged the Department of Public Safety to create a new criteria for evaluating intersections. That could allow officials to rank all of the city’s high-traffic, dangerous intersections and assign guards accordingly, the audit said.

Lamb said that information also should be available online so students and families can use the data to map out the best, safest route to school.

The school district does not currently underwrite any of the cost of employing school crossing guards. Previously, the district helped finance the positions in 2004, 2005 and 2008, because of concerns that the guards’ positions may be eliminated.

Pittsburgh is one of only four municipalities in Pennsylvania that pays the entire share of costs for school crossing guards, according to the City Controller’s office.

“There are opportunities for the school crossing guard division to improve operations, particularly in the space of guard deployment, retention policies and negotiating for cost-sharing with PPS,” Lamb said.

Though the audit focused on crossing guards, it also pointed out that the district is seeing a decline in student enrollment. It will likely see fewer than 20,000 students enrolled this school year, Lamb’s office said. The official 2022-23 enrollment figures have not yet been released.

“While not a focus of this audit, Pittsburgh Public Schools enrollment has lost nearly 18,000 students over the past 22 years,” Lamb said. “That’s nearly half of enrollment and outpaces the city’s population loss over the same period. PPS must be diligent in continuing to focus on improving student success and eliminating the opportunity gap.”