Fairfax Co. crossing guard shortage leaves police overstretched [Video]

FRANCONIA, Va. — Fairfax County officials are weighing different options to find a solution to an issue school districts are dealing with across the country — staffing enough crossing guards.

There are about 200 schools in Fairfax County. Many are located along busy roads and require crossing guards. There are 164 crossing locations, where crossing guards are needed twice a day for 30 minutes a day. That means, in total, they have to cover 328 crossing each school day.

Right now, they have 52 crossing guards employed, and patrol officers fill the spots they can’t cover.

“We’ve got some parameters that we look at to determine whether a crossing guard is needed. There’s a minimum number of students that have to be crossing at a particular location, there’s a number of vehicles. Those factors are the things we use today to determine where we should have crossing guards,” said Franconia District Supervisor …