Board restores funding for high school crossing guards
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 15 approved $707,908 to restore crossing guards at 10 high schools, including Annandale, for the remainder of the school year.
The FY 2027 budget approved by the BoS last spring eliminated funding for high school crossing guards.
Since the start of the school year, there have been multiple crashes and near misses outside Fairfax County schools. On Sept. 9, a student riding a bicycle home from Frost Middle School died after being hit by a large truck.
The additional funds were approved during the board’s review of FY 2026 carryover funds to amend the FY 2027 budget.
The funds will support 11 merit positions for the Fairfax County Police Department to provide temporary coverage outside high schools until crossing guards are hired. One of the high schools will get two crossing guards.
Related story: Supervisors to reconsider their decision to eliminate high school crossing guards
At the board’s hearing on the carryover budget, more than 50 people – including school board members, students, and parents – testified in support of restoring funding for high school crossing guards.
Melanie Meren, the Hunter Mill school board member who led the effort to bring back the crossing guards, accused the BoS of “abdicating its responsibility to children” when it cut those positions.
Meren noted that when the board considered the proposal to eliminate crossing guards last spring, BoS Chair Jeffrey McKay failed to respond to requests to discuss the issue and insulted her for her advocacy.
School Board member Ricardy Anderson (Mason) called the recent vehicle incidents “a sobering reminder of what’s at stake.” Crossing guards must be treated as “a core foundation of student safety.”
Anderson said the decision to restore funding for 10 high schools is a positive first step, but said the school board supports a permanent solution that is “data-informed, transparent, and equitable.”
Several people who testified at the hearing slammed the Board of Supervisors for failing to disclose information on traffic safety at schools before cutting funds for crossing guards.
Related story: Recent crashes highlight the need for efforts to focus on pedestrian safety
The BoS also approved McKay’s motion to establish a “joint School Board and Board of Supervisors task force to review and strategize pedestrian, bicycle, scooter, and traffic safety in school zones.”
The review will include recommendations from the Fairfax County Police Department, the Office of School Security, Safe Routes to School staff, VDOT, and members of the General Assembly.
“Restoring crossing guards is an important step, but we cannot allow the conversation about pedestrian safety to end here,” McKay said. “Recent events across our community have underscored that pedestrian safety extends far beyond our schools.”
“A crossing guard can help students navigate a particular crossing at a particular time of day,” he said, “but creating safer roads requires us to look at infrastructure, driver behavior, enforcement, and how all of us use our transportation network.”