At the corner of Food Lane Drive and Longview Road in South Kansas City, two crossing guards in reflective vests now wave students across the street where 9-year-old Hazen Workman-Duffy was killed while riding her bike to school. The guards are part of a new contract Hickman Mills C-1 School District struck with a professional crossing guard company as the district's boundary changes send more students walking and biking to class this year.
Hazen, a third-grader at Ingels Elementary, was fatally struck in a marked crosswalk with a green signal at that intersection on October 14, 2025, when a northbound Ford Transit cargo van turned westbound into her path, according to the JC Post. She was riding just a block from the school where she was a student. In the months that followed, Jorge De Lara, a neighbor, began showing up at the crosswalk on his own, standing watch for almost a year, as reported by KSHB 41 Kansas City.
De Lara told the station he could not sleep without coming out after the tragedy, and he said he helped students cross safely in the absence of anyone else doing the job. When the district's new professional guards finally showed up this fall, De Lara said he was surprised to see two of them stationed at the corner, and he told KSHB he hopes the paid guards become a permanent fixture rather than a temporary fix.
A District Reconfiguration Sends More Kids Walking
Hickman Mills C-1 hired All City Management, a professional crossing guard company, to staff intersections that students cross throughout the district, including the corner near Ingels Elementary. The district says the move was driven by boundary changes and school reconfigurations that have increased the number of student walkers and bike riders, not by any single incident, per the station's reporting.
Those boundary shifts fall under the district's Road to a Sustainable Destiny initiative, launched in late 2025, according to Hickman Mills C-1 School District. Dawn Smith, the district's assistant superintendent of operational services, said the district needed to partner with All City Management at two major intersections, the outlet reports. Smith said crossing guard assignments are based on each school's needs and will keep changing as enrollment, walking patterns, and school configurations shift.
The guards' schedules align with each school's bell times, and the district says it identified which intersections needed coverage and will continue evaluating those needs going forward. Hickman Mills C-1 has said it remembers Hazen Workman-Duffy as part of the school community, per the same account. All City Management is a private provider of school crossing guard services.
City Hall and Neighbors Respond to a Deadly Corner
Diana Shields, whose family lives near the crossing, said they are grateful for the crossing guards now stationed at the crosswalks, the station reported. Their relief follows months of municipal action triggered by the crash. The Kansas City Council passed Ordinance 250927 on November 6, 2025, banning right turns on red signals in designated school zones, according to the City of Kansas City. Mayor Quinton Lucas introduced the measure, and student Russell Dorn testified, per BikeWalkKC.
No-turn-on-red signs were posted at Longview Road and Food Lane Drive in January, according to KSHB 41's earlier reporting. The years-long roots of the neighborhood's foot traffic run deeper than the recent boundary shifts; Ingels Elementary previously absorbed nearly 200 new walking students after district boundary adjustments pulled in nearby apartment complexes and residential neighborhoods, KCUR reported back in 2017.
A Citywide Safety Push, With Pedestrians Still at Risk
The Longview Road crossing sits within a broader pattern of pedestrian vulnerability across the metro. Kansas City has pursued Vision Zero safety projects, including road diets, flashing crosswalks, and new traffic signals, KCUR reported in January. Even so, pedestrians and cyclists remain a central focus for city planners because the gains have not erased the risk.
Regional pedestrian safety remains a concern in the Kansas City metro area. Missouri's pedestrian safety is discussed in Smart Growth America's 2026 Dangerous by Design report, BikeWalkKC noted. Nationally, pedestrian safety remains a concern.
Missouri continues to face pedestrian and bicycle safety concerns. Road-safety efforts in Missouri also focus on crash causes.
For now, the change at Food Lane Drive and Longview Road is measured in two vests, not statistics. Hickman Mills C-1 says it will keep adjusting crossing guard assignments as enrollment, walking patterns, and school configurations continue to shift under its ongoing reconfiguration plan.
