Wednesday morning, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor traded the suit and tie for a safety vest and a little stop sign, all so the city could honor one of its longest-serving crossing guards. 

The chilly morning was nothing unfamiliar to Bobbi Valentine, who has been in the same spot in Carrick for 37 years. 

“I like the kids, the kids are the main thing,” she said. 

Valentine said she doesn’t want the spotlight, but if you’ve ever driven through or walked through the neighborhood, chances are you’ve seen her, and chances are your child has too. 

“You develop the skill along the way,” she said. “You learn along with everybody else, but I like it.” 

Valentine is just one of the crossing guards across the city, making sure that students and families can safely make it to the classroom, because without them, there are certainly dangers. 

“They face a lot of challenges daily with distracted drivers, people speeding through school zones, people going through bus lights, so my people are basically the first line of defense for school safety,” said Donna McManus, Supervisor of School Crossing Guards for the City of Pittsburgh. 

Those challenges are exactly why Mayor O’Connor spent the morning at the intersection of Biscayne and Brownsville. 

“Talking to crossing guards, people who see kids every day, and understanding what intersections need, and [giving them] as much support as possible,” O’Connor said. 

While the city has already put traffic-calming measures in place around some schools, that work began under the previous administration. 

Those efforts continue and are far from over. 

“We have to look at everything,” O’Connor said. “It’s going to be easy to fix, but at least our administration is paying attention to it, and when you want families raised in Pittsburgh, these are the conversations you have to have.” 

While those talks continue at the city level, in the meantime, Valentine will be in the same place she’s been for nearly four decades. 

“Make sure you listen to the crossing guards,” McManus said. “I don’t want anybody making rude gestures or screaming out the windows and calling [them] nasty things, or calling them nasty, because that’s not it.”