Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/233139
Sarasota News Leader December 27, 2013 Twice a day, in sweltering heat, pounding rain or streaking lightning storms, crossing guards were responsible for setting up and taking down heavy metal signs that were sunk into tires filled with concrete. While crossing guards today can choose either morning or afternoon shifts, back then they were required to work both the a.m. and p.m., a schedule that drastically interferes with your day. Stallings started at Alta Vista Elementary, but she spent only a short time there before moving to Tuttle Elementary, where she manned the Fruitville and Tuttle corner for "a long, long time." She then spent 16 years at Southside Elementary before retiring at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Page 83 must take anti-harassment classes and even pass randomly assigned drug tests. A couple of years ago, after well over three decades on the job, Stallings had to pee in a cup to prove she was clean, twice in the same month. Although Stallings faced few real crises on the job, that doesn't mean her tenure was uneventful. A mother once passed out while crossing the street; she once had to report missing streetlights; a gas leak once forced her to come in to help evacuate a school; passengers in a passing car once spit on her. And then there's the more routine drama of kid life: falling down while crossing the street, being left at school by their parents, getting lost. There wasn't much training when Stallings Seeing the same kids day in, day out throughbegan her tenure. Nowadays, crossing guards out the school year allowed Stallings to get to Click to watch the video The Sarasota Police Department recorded Stallings' retirement ceremony. Video courtesy of the department