Hickman Mills partners with crossing guard company as boundary changes bring more student walkers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.

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Jorge De Lara spent almost a year standing at the corner of Food Lane Drive and Longview Road in south Kansas City, making sure students crossed safely — a promise he made to himself after nine-year-old Hazen Workman-Duffy was killed at the intersection.

But there are changes for the new school year.

The Hickman Mills C-1 School District hired All City Management, a professional crossing guard company, to put guards on the corner where the fatal crash happened, along with corners students cross across the district.

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"I was pleasantly surprised with two crossing guards — one here, one over there, and it just melted my heart," De Lara said.

De Lara said he never set out to be a volunteer. He simply could not stay home after the tragedy.

"I couldn't sleep if I didn't come out that morning after," De Lara said. "I had to do something."

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The district says the decision to add professional crossing guards was driven by boundary changes and school reconfigurations under its "Road to Sustainable Destiny" initiative, which increased the number of students walking to and from school. The decision was not made by the death of Hazen Workman-Duffy.

Dawn Smith, Hickman Mills Schools Assistant Superintendent of Operational Services, said the district identified intersections that needed crossing guards after the boundary changes increased the number of walkers and bike riders.

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"Safety is what is important," Smith said. "And so as we increase walkers and how kids travel to and from school, we believe that partnering with All City Management, the crossing guard company, in two major intersections was the thing that we needed to do," Smith said.

Smith said the family of Hazen Workman-Duffy remains part of the school community.

"We remember Hazen Workman Duffy. Her parents and her have a special place in our hearts. She is still a part of our school community. But we focus on the reboundary, what that line, what those areas, what those locations bring us, and we address it from that point," Smith said.

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Despite the district saying that Hazen's death wasn't the reason crossing guards were added, her family celebrated the change.

"We are so grateful for the crossing guards being placed up at the crosswalks," Hazen's mom, Diana Shields, wrote in a message to me. "It is definitely an improvement in the safety of other children, and that is truly amazing."

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The district said crossing guards began working at the start of the school year and are assigned to schools based on what the school needs.

The schedules aligned to each school's bell schedule.

The district said it will continue to evaluate crossing guard needs and adjust assignments as enrollment, walking patterns, and school configurations change.

De Lara said he hopes the professional crossing guards are a permanent addition.

"There couldn't be a better solution. Now I hope it's permanent. That's the biggest thing," De Lara said.

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