What's up with no crossing guards?

TYLER-Statistics show children are being put in a potentially dangerous situation when using crosswalks. And without a crossing guard, the risk goes up.

KETK received an e-mail from one concerned viewer who wanted to know why some Tyler schools don’t have crossing guards when other schools have more than one.

One such school is Moore Middle School in Tyler who isn’t provided with at least one official crossing guard for Golden Road. Neighbors we spoke to Wednesday say they see drivers all the time who don’t yield and completely ignore the posted signs warning drivers of children crossing. They said at the beginning of each school year, a police officer sits on one of the side streets and issues tickets to drivers who refuse to stop. But as the school year rolls on, they said the officer shows up less frequently.

So why do some schools have crossing guards and others don’t?

“The reason why there’s not a crossing guard is we normally don’t place crossing guards at middle schools,” City of Tyler official, Justin Smith, said. “There primarily there for the elementary schools.”

So if it’s just for elementary schools, why does Hubbard Middle School have two crossing guards? “Its there at the request of Tyler I.S.D because Copeland Road is a wide four lane divided highway and it has a high traffic volume,” Smith said. If Tyler I.S.D requested a crossing guard be put on Golden Road, the city would look into it, he said.