Refugee Guides Kids To Safe Passage

Feras celebrated his first job in the U.S. Monday morning by walking into traffic — and slowing down cars.

Feras, 48, marked his first day as a city school crossing guard Monday at East Rock Community Magnet School. 

Five days a week, from 7:20 to 10 a.m. and from 1:50 to 2:45 p.m., his professional domain will be Nash Street near Willow.

This is Feras’s first job since arriving in New Haven as a refugee in November. Born and raised in Syria, he spent the last 10 years living in Turkey until he and his family of seven were able to relocate to New Haven with the help of the Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR). (The Independent has agreed not to publish Feras’s last name in this article, per a request from JCARR.) 

On Monday morning, East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Smith, JCARR’s Daphne Geismar, East Rock School Principal Sabrina Breland, city crossing guard supervisor Carla Maitland, and Anna Ruth Pickett and some other members of the K‑8 magnet school’s PTO celebrated Feras’s first day on the job with coffee, balloons, and plenty of photos as he greeted kids and ushered them across Nash Street. 

“It’s needed. Our students deserve it,” said Breland, noting just how frequently cars double park on Nash and how quickly drivers speed on Willow. 

As a parent of an East Rock School student, Ruth Pickett said she’s been advocating for the city to place a crossing guard at the school for years and years. All of that work has now paid off.

“Everyone loves crossing guards,” Smith said, praising Feras for stepping into the part-time job, and the local refugee relocation agency and the city and East Rock School for making all of the connections that led to Monday’s PTO-hosted celebration.

With the help of Geismar’s iPhone translating between English and Arabic, Feras smiled as he stepped into his new role of helping children get to school safely. He said his most recent job in Turkey before finding his way to the United States was as a driving instructor. 

“I love the safety of children very much,” Feras said in Arabic, as translated by Geismar’s phone. ​“Like a father, I have children and I love that they arrive at school safely. I want to live up to the parents’ expectations that I am responsible for getting them to school safely.” He described the work of being a school crossing guard as not just ​“physical,” but also ​“moral” and ​“wonderful.”

Maitland said there are currently 46 school crossing guards citywide. The job is part-time, starting at $18 an hour for a maximum of 19 hours a week. 

According to a follow-up email by Smith, as he headed to his English class after the East Rock PTO welcome party on Monday, Feras told Geismar: ​“This school will be my second family.”