The thanking of the guards: Woodlands mom declares Feb. 28 'Crossing Guard Appreciation Day'

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – A Woodlands mother is trying to get a school community on board Feb. 28 for something she is calling Crossing Guard Appreciation Day.

Jessica Middleton said the idea came to her as she was sitting at the busy intersection of Sawmill and Sawdust, watching children walk home from school, safely crossing the high-traffic roads with the help of two friendly and perhaps underappreciated crossing guards.

"These guys are out there every single day with their vests, stop signs, coolers, waving at all the drivers, chitchatting with all the kids, making sure they get safely through a very busy intersection," Middleton said. "Every day – rain or shine, snow or flood."

Middleton and her neighbors decided Feb. 28 should be deemed Crossing Guard Appreciation Day. At 8 a.m., they will meet at Sunset Springs Park. "We will walk down to the crosswalk together to say 'hi' to our crossing guards and shake their hands. Some folks are bringing gift cards, balloons and other goodies."

Although Middleton wants to get the word out so that others may consider doing the same on Feb. 28, she's also hoping to keep it a surprise from her two favorite crossing guards, Donald Grammer and Les Seibert.

Woodlands Online was able to interview Grammer and Seibert while keeping Middleton's secret by telling them we were working on a feature about some of the unsung heroes working with school kids every day – and that they were nominated to be profiled.

"How nice," said Grammer, 87. "That's wonderful. I'm honored."

Grammer is now in his 7th year as a crossing guard with Conroe ISD.

"I found myself with some time on my hands," he said. "I've been retired for quite a while now. Bumping around the house and doing chores all the time didn't seem the best way to spend my time. This just gives me a little structure to my life that I maybe didn't have."

Grammer is a retired football scout, having worked for the New York Jets for some 20 years. Before that, he was a teacher in various schools and a coach in college.

The military veteran can easily handle aggressive drivers and put a smile on kids' faces.

"It's fun to get to see the kids of course," Grammer said. "It's fun to see them growing up a little. In fact, some have them have gone through all three schools since I've been doing this."

The busy intersection Grammer guards is near three schools that feed into each other: Hailey Elementary, Wilkerson Intermediate and Knox Junior High.

A couple of years ago, Grammer got another guard to help manage the sheer flow of traffic and children.

Les Seibert, 68, is a retired IT director from the oil and gas industry.

"I saw they needed people to help do things, and I needed things to do, so this was a good fit," said Seibert about applying for the CISD crossing guard position. "It's nice to have an association with the children. They're pretty nice little people day in and day out."

Seibert said some of the challenges of the job include hot weather, cold weather and the occasional irate driver trying to get to work or home on time.

"The satisfaction though, at the end of the day, is you've seen the kids safely go in one direction that morning, and then the other direction that afternoon, and nothing went wrong," he said. "That's a good day."