From her corner, a crossing guard sizes up the danger

By Casey Ramsdell, Globe Correspondent

There are 401 school-crossing guards in Boston. Juana Hidalgo is one of them.

Hidalgo, 42, knows well the dangers the young students face in the morning and afternoons as she helps them cross the street and watches over them as the make their way to Mission Hill K-8 School in Roxbury.

But after a crossing guard was struck and seriously injured by a motorist Tuesday in Dorchester, the dangers to the guards themselves hit home. Since the accident, other guards have told of close calls; a guard supervisor says one was dragged by a car several weeks ago in Dorchester.

Hidalgo, wearing a long, bright neon yellow jacket, said this morning that she is sometimes nervous about her profession. As she helps a little girl put on her pink backpack and scans the area for children near the corner of Parker and Alleghany streets, she says too many distracted drivers talk on cell phones and speed.

"When they [drivers] don't see me, they go very fast," she said, demonstrating how at times she can be hidden from the sight of motorists.

She also said people think that she is there to help everyone cross the street, not just students. That is not her job.

“People think you are here for other people,'' she said. "I am here for the kids at the school.”
Hidalgo, of Roxbury, has been a crossing guard since March and previously worked at two bus stops.

She isn’t sure what more could be done to protect crossing guards, who as police department employees undergo training and are tested before they are hired. “We have the police jacket,” she said.

But she said that despite the risks, she doesn’t often feel unsafe personally.

“When you feel in danger, they tell you to call the cops,” she said. In the afternoons, a police car is stationed outside the school, which she said helps with traffic and makes drivers more cautious.

She said that at Mission Hill K-8 School people are very nice to her and know her name.

“I like it over here,” she said.