A group of Barrington 220 parents, many donning pink crossing guard vests, asked Barrington village leaders earlier this month to post permanent crossing guards at each of the village’s rail crossings after a Barrington High School student walking to school was recently struck and killed by a train.
Roma Khan, a parent of two SD220 students, founded the new Barrington Student Safety Organization days after Marin Lacson, 17, a junior at BHS, was fatally struck by a Metra commuter train. Lacson was walking to school Jan. 25 when she was hit by a train on the Union Pacific-Northwest Line that was headed into downtown Chicago during the morning rush hour.
Members of the Barrington Student Safety Organization attended the Feb. 12, 2024 Barrington Village Board Committee of the Whole meeting where they asked for permanent crossing guards at all of the rail crossings in town, The request came after a Barrington High School student was fatally struck by a Metra commuter train in January.
Metra officials said the lights and security gates at the crossing, at Hough and Main streets, were engaged, according to eyewitnesses.
Khan addressed village trustees at the Feb. 12 Committee of the Whole meeting, explaining that the goal of her organization – which she said is 400-members strong on Facebook – is to improve student safety before and after school with the addition of crossing guards at each of the village’s seven railroad crossings.
About 20 parents have been volunteering as rail crossing guards Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 9 a.m. and afterschool from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. since Jan. 29, organization members said. Volunteers said they daily assist up to a dozen students who cross the tracks at some intersections where there are no pedestrian gates.
Khan said she has been corresponding with the village by email and has requested information on the village’s current contract with traffic crossing guards. The nonprofit organization has given the village a deadline of March 4 to comply with its request for permanent crossing guards.
“This all started from a very terrible incident,” Khan told Pioneer Press after the meeting.
She said the group was formed for advocacy, action and accountability.
“We, as community members, have to live every day knowing that someone in our community is missing a child. We can’t change that but we can make sure, at least through railroad safety, no other parent will experience this pain,” said Khan.
Village Manager Scott Anderson said during the meeting – and also explained that Khan was told via email – that village staff requested an increase in the scope of the contract with its current crossing guard service, and is still determining the number of personnel available and associated costs.
“We’re going to continue our commitment with police officers and the school resource officers for the crossings until we can get to a potential change in scope with our current provider,” Anderson said during the meeting. “We have police officers issuing citations as a safety measure, trying to get people more aware of rail crossings and safety features and make sure we’re all modeling good behavior from motorists to pedestrians.”
He said village staff is continuing conversations regularly with the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois Department of Transportation to install pedestrian gates at each of the village’s rail crossings.
The village also updated its Safety Page on the website, he said, and is working with Metra to schedule a rail safety training for community members. Staff is also developing and planning to have installed pedestrian signage and warnings, he said.
Volunteer crossing guards say they have witnessed the impact of their presence.
“I think it has been very effective,” Kristin Gareiss, a parent who stands every morning at 8 a.m. at the crossing where Marin was struck and killed, told Pioneer Press after the meeting. “The first couple of mornings, I talked to each of [the students] and I told them ‘Don’t just turn off your music, take your earbuds out, put your hoods down.’ It took one time of me saying that to get them to do that the next day, and the next day.
Gareiss said she also noticed motorists driving through intersections are being more cautious, and not as many people are stopping on the tracks when stopped at a red light.
Trustees publicly expressed their condolences to the Lacson family and some became emotional during the Village Board meeting held immediately after the COW meeting.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” Trustee Jennifer Wondrasek said of the tragedy. “Our community is a community of action and our board is a board of action, and it’s our job to bring all these players to the table. That’s Metra, that’s UP [Union Pacific] and the school district, to help put measures in place so we can prevent this from ever happening again.”
After the meeting, President Karen Darch explained to Pioneer Press that the underpass planned at the tracks owned by Canadian National railroad company at Route 14 has been in the planning stages for more than 15 years and is expected to help prevent incidents like the one involving Lacson from occurring.
The underpass project involves creation of separate and safer paths for vehicles and pedestrians to cross over the railroad tracks. Darch said construction is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
