Latrobe considers pay hike for school crossing guards

Crossing guards at Latrobe Elementary School could see their first wage hike in more than a decade if city council approves.

According to Latrobe officials, the four guards will continue to be stationed at two streets on either side of the school, Cedar and Cherry streets, but the city is dropping the idea of adding new crosswalks at Cherry.

Michael Gray, interim city manager, has recommended an hourly pay raise of 75 cents, to $9.25 per hour, for the crossing guards. They are members of the city fire police. The expectation is that Greater Latrobe School District, which operates the school, would continue to reimburse the city for half of the guards’ wages, Gray said at this week’s council meeting.

“If the city chooses to increase their rate of pay, then the school board will decide if they want to continue to use those services or look elsewhere,” said Dan Watson, Greater Latrobe business administrator.

The guards last received an increase more than a decade ago, according to Latrobe police Chief John Sleasman. City solicitor Zachary Kansler said council will need to approve an ordinance to enact the proposed wage increase.

In its recent study of traffic on streets surrounding the recently opened school, county consultant Gibson-Thomas Engineering recommended adding two crosswalks at Cherry — one for students crossing Lincoln Avenue and another for those walking across Ligonier Street to get to the school.

But, Gray said, district officials have indicated they don’t want to pay the extra money to install new crosswalks that aren’t really needed.

“They would move the kids down to Cedar Street, and cross them where there’s already an existing crosswalk,” he said.

Mayor Rosie Wolford said the city had offered to paint the crosswalk on the street and install accompanying signs, but she noted the district still would have faced a cost of several thousand dollars each for cutting three ramps into adjacent curbs to make the proposed crosswalks handicapped-accessible.

Sleasman agreed with the idea of focusing on the existing school crossing at Cedar. “Having all the kids cross at one location is a lot safer than multiple locations,” he said.

Gray said the city will continue to pursue another of Gibson-Thomas’s recommendations — creation of a school zone adjacent to the Latrobe Elementary grounds, with a lowered speed limit that would be in force while students are arriving at the school in the morning and departing in the afternoon.