RIPON – About a year ago, the Ripon City Council voted to eliminate the position of school crossing guard at Main Street and Acacia Avenue for budget reasons.

Ripon Unified has a district yard duty employee in mind to handle the daily safety responsibilities at the very intersection.

“(The position) is not in our budget,” Superintendent Louise Johnson said at Monday’s school board meeting. “Our plan was to use an existing person to handle this service.”

Trustees agreed, approving for the employee to receive a slight salary increase – in the area of $11.95 to $14.32 per hour – while opting against developing and funding a new position or leaving crossing guard post vacant.

Safety was the major concern.

Johnson was asked if volunteers were an option.

“The concern was that (a volunteer) may not be as reliable on showing up every day, particularly, in that busy intersection,” she said.

 Students from Ripon Elementary School and Ripon High are frequent users of the cross walks.