Safe Passage workers call for CPS Board to support program in upcoming budget

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As Chicago Public Schools nears a budget for the next school year, a coalition of student safety groups is calling for the Board of Education to stop cuts.

Safe Passage workers say a current hiring freeze is crippling their efforts to keep city students safe, as they walk home in some of Chicago's dangerous neighborhoods.

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They wear safety vests along some Chicago students' routes to and from school, but they're not crossing guards. Safe Passage workers say they help to protect students.

Now, they're calling on CPS to keep them safe in the next budget.

On Thursday, they went from boots on the ground on some of Chicago's most dangerous school routes to boots outside CPS headquarters, with calls to the district to continue their support of a program that, they say, helps to save young lives.

"(We) increase student attendance and make the communities much safer for our kids and our young students. Because some of them, like, they don't feel safe," Safe Passage worker Sarahi Fajardo said.

Their pleas to save the Safe Passage program from future cuts come after a recent string of shootings outside Chicago schools, including Wendell Phillips Academy High School, where a 14-year-old boy was shot early this month.

CPS started the program in 2009, and, since then, the program has grown into 17 vendors, covering nearly 200 city schools and ensuring students' safety to and from campus.

But, Safe Passage leaders say they are concerned about a current hiring freeze, as multiple jobs remain vacant within the program.

"Organizations across the city are seeing the closure of positions within the program. The loss of positions is coming at a time we are seeing a decrease of violence across the city," said Joanna Cabrera, Safe Passage manager for Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.

"We understand that CPS is strapped, but we're out here now to say, 'Thank you, we still have a program, will not be cut out the budget,' and we will now advocate for the lobbyists, the stakeholders, the policymakers down in Springfield," said the Rev. Phyllis Harrell, CEO of Alliance for Community Peace and a Safe Passage vendor.

A CPS spokesperson says the district and school board leaders are still developing the budget for the next school year, and don't expect to bring it up for the public to view until August.

The board will then have until the end of August to approve it.