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11/18/2009
A world without crossing guards
Perhaps I’m winsome for the good old days at the hockey rink; our son was a great skater – and we loved the families, the trips and of course, the games. Every so often Pete and his Dad tramped down to Jones Park to get some extra practice in. The nets were up, but it was always a gamble whether the ice would be decent – or just too bumpy to skate.
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz brought it all back for me when I read of the city’s request for volunteers to help maintain ice rinks around town. And not just a volunteer here or there – a team of 12 to 16 folks at each of 8 rinks to “work as a crew,” to shovel the snow and spray it down every once in a while. Steven Doniger, community services manager with Madison Parks, makes the ask:
Ideally, if we could get a commitment from 12 to 16 individuals to work as a crew, that would be a good number. Because then you could assign different nights and days, with groups of two to four people.
Imagine. Folks in the neighborhood taking on an important responsibility, parsing out the work, organizing together, getting it done. I just love it.
For the unitiated, Mayor Dave explains the deal.
Here's a quick primer on the science of ice. Snow is not as cold as you think. As a matter of fact, when snow covers ice it acts as insulation, melting and fusing with the ice beneath it, making it rough and unskatable once the snow is finally removed. What works is shoveling the snow off soon after it falls. But that's usually not possible because our hard-working Madison Parks crews are busy clearing bike paths and walkways for days after a storm. By the time they get to the rinks, the damage is done.
Enter the neighborhoods. If we can get volunteers with shovels out there a few hours after the snowfall ends, we can preserve the ice. And if we can get people out there to spray down the ice with water occasionally we'll get even better conditions.
To see how your community might recruit your own human Zambonis, check out this Madison Parks Newsletter.
And after you’ve covered community ice rinks, how about Crossing Guards? Yesterday’s Wausau Daily Herald reported that Wausau is cutting crossing guard hours to 45 minutes before and after school, “half their current shifts.” (Wow. As it is now, an hour and a half before and after school every day. That’s a lot of standing around.) I can see that it’s a tough job to recruit for – mostly radiant, friendly, loving folks, getting out every single school day come rain, snow or sleet. And now it will be just two 45-minute shifts a day.
How about eliminating city-paid crossing guards and putting parents back in charge? Instead of car pools, you have walking pools. Just as a group of parents divide up car pool duties, so too you divide up walk-to-school-with-the-kids duty. Loving, responsible parents, calendared in where it works, become the walk-to-school parent of the day for their group of neighbor kids and friends. Why not?
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Move over AmeriCorps and Acorn - the authentic community service volunteers are coming through, you know, those old-fashioned kind of volunteers who did it out of the goodness of their hearts...
Soapbox Jill (Tue Nov 17 23:52:17 2009)
Indeed. I love it.
Jo (Wed Nov 18 05:30:15 2009)
Holy smokes. There is some good thinking going on. How nice to read about.
One question on the ice rinks. Why does the city need to clear bike paths and walkways before the ice rink. Seems if they put the rinks first they could eliminate the rink/ice/snow problem.
Parents defraying the outrageous costs of educating 'their' children. What a great thought. I remember older children as crossing guards when I went to grade school. I also remember when you entered high school you did not get any special services. You were old enough to walk around town you were old enough to walk around school without special speed limits or special crossing. In Green Bay they ask motorists to go 15 mph. Why do they always build schools on a main thoroughfare? Evidently the high schoolers are not able to take care of themselves while at school but they are ok everywhere else. Parents as crossing guards. Great idea.
Should start a list!
s_cristaldi (Wed Nov 18 18:55:49 2009)
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