Editorial: Restart talks over crossing guards in Dist. 21

After months of deliberations, it comes to this. When they get back from winter break, kids who live on the Cook County side of Buffalo Grove and who walk to their elementary school won't have crossing guards to help them anymore.

The village of Buffalo Grove is yanking the guards after unsuccessfully trying to get Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 to pay $12,000 for the last two years of crossing guard services. The bill was $24,000, but officials recently agreed to settle for half.

District 21 administrators, though, say they never signed the agreement two years ago, so they won't pay. Buffalo Grove has given the service away for free for two years, presumably believing the children needed the protection. But now the schools are washing their hands, and it's going to be every kid for himself or herself out there.

Somehow, both sides equate their positions to the moral high ground.

Here's the thing. The money is all coming from the same source - taxpayers. They're just different pockets. The people who are paying the bills want crossing guards. The only people with a stake in the moral high ground here are the children themselves. And they don't have a vote.

We can't help but think District 21 needs to make a counteroffer. Don't give up now, when you've got the upcoming winter break to keep talking.

There are three intersections where crossing guards have been stationed. The school district says that for two of them, the kids are welcome to ride the buses.

It's healthier if they walk, unless of course the walk puts them in harm's way. Surely, the school district recognizes that.

Superintendent Kate Hyland says crossing guards are a public safety issue, and therefore the responsibility of the village of Buffalo Grove.

But when kids ride the bus, that's a state-mandated transportation issue placed squarely on the shoulders of the school district. We don't agree that walkers are one kind of public safety issue and bus riders another. The point should be to get the youngest students safely to school.

That's everybody's responsibility.

How school districts and local police handle crossing guards differs. In Wheeling, where guards are placed at nine or 10 potentially hazardous intersections, Wheeling pays.

That's their choice. Buffalo Grove looks at it differently, and District 21 should respect that.

Until somebody devises a uniform code for how crossing guards are hired and fired and paid, kids and parents will be at the mercy of this kinds of bickering.

All everybody can do is negotiate. And compromise. It's the American Way, after all.

So, we're hoping District 21 invites the parties back to the table. It's not too much to ask, is it?