Fairfax County supervisors will decide Sept. 15 whether to permanently restore crossing guards at South Lakes High School and other high schools cut from the county budget in May.

A 16-year-old South Lakes student was struck by a car on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 1, while walking to school. The student suffered minor injuries, according to the Fairfax County Times. The driver was charged with failure to stop before entering a highway. That evening, the Board of Supervisors Budget Policy Committee reviewed initial plans for the county budget carryover, with permanent crossing guard funding on the agenda.

County Executive Bryan Hill told supervisors the full cost of restoring guards at all affected schools would be about $900,000, FFXnow reported. Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity had already proposed setting aside $400,000 in carryover funds as a placeholder. The carryover process redistributes money budgeted but not spent in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Guards were temporarily reinstated at 10 high schools on Thursday, Sept. 3, including two crossings at South Lakes, as we reported Sept. 2. Anne Rodriguez, a 22-year crossing guard veteran who had worked outside South Lakes for at least three years, was sent back to her post on the afternoon of the crash, Patch reported.

The pressure has come from every level of government. State Sen. Stella Pekarsky (D-36) and Del. Laura Jane Cohen (D-15), both former Fairfax County school board members, sent a letter to supervisors on Sept. 1 urging them to act. FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid wrote separately to Hill, saying officials should not have to choose between crossing guards and longer-term safety improvements, according to the Fairfax County Times. Reid also said the school system applied for 10 additional speed camera locations. Fairfax County Public Schools currently has 107 school zones, 20 of which have cameras.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents Reston, said he had speed cameras installed along South Lakes Drive the previous year. "That helps, but the removal of the crossing guard goes in the wrong direction," Alcorn said, according to the Fairfax County Times.

School Board member Melanie Meren, who represents the Hunter Mill District, has been at South Lakes every morning since the first day of school monitoring conditions. She told the Fairfax County Times that school security staff and resource officers had to step in to manage traffic after the cuts.

Hill told supervisors the county received 235 crossing guard applications over the past two years and hired only 10.

The board approved the budget eliminating high school crossing guards on a 9-1 vote in May, cutting $1.89 million and 13 full-time positions from the Fairfax County Police Department. County staff have since identified South Lakes, Edison, West Springfield, Centreville and West Potomac as the schools with the most complicated traffic conditions.

The Reston Association Board of Directors voted 5-1 on Aug. 27 to draft a letter to supervisors supporting restoration of crossing guard funding. RA Board President Travis Johnson described conditions at South Lakes at that meeting, saying there was no one directing traffic and that he had personally seen buses nearly hit students. He called it "a bit of a nightmare."

The Fairfax County Police Department is expected to deliver a final assessment and recommendations before the Sept. 15 vote. The public hearing on the carryover budget is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. that day.