{"id":146454,"date":"2026-02-06T20:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146454\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:04:08","slug":"a-salute-to-the-crossing-guards-who-keep-key-biscayne-moving-safely-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/146454\/","title":{"rendered":"A salute to the crossing guards who keep Key Biscayne moving safely | Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a close-knit community like Key Biscayne, school crossing guards<\/a> are more than just a familiar face at the corner \u2014 they are trusted neighbors who help keep families safe every day.<\/p>\n

That role is being celebrated statewide this week, as the Florida Department of Transportation honors crossing guards for their dedication to protecting children and supporting communities across Florida, recognizing the quiet but critical work they do rain or shine.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida\u2019s crossing guards play an essential role in safety, selflessly protecting children as they travel to and from school,\u201d said FDOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. \u201cFDOT is proud to honor their dedication and the service they provide to parents, schools, and communities across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the initiative, the Department recognizes crossing guards from around Florida through the School Crossing Guard Awards.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s award recipients are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 2025 Florida School Crossing Guard of the Year: Minnie Alexander (Seminole County Sheriff\u2019s Office). Minnie exemplifies professionalism as a school crossing guard through her dedication to safety, reliability, and positive interactions with students, parents, and colleagues. Her enthusiasm for community involvement, support of student activities, and genuine care for those around her reflect a steadfast positivity that inspires others and brightens the daily lives of everyone she interacts with.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a02025 Florida School Crossing Guard of the Year (Extra Mile Award): Cheryl Ruckdeschel Huggins, St. Petersburg Police Department. Cheryl is one of those people that goes through life seeing the needs of others and taking action to get those needs met. Cheryl has never said \u2018no\u2019 to helping and always goes out of her way, whether it is covering posts or generously providing items to her students and colleagues in need.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a02025 Florida School Crossing Guard Program of the Year: Corporal Lawrence Kolbicka (Pinellas Park Police Department). The Pinellas Park Police Department takes pride in its School Crossing Guard Program, which goes above and beyond to ensure the safety of students and the community. Their guard training and appreciation programs are exceptional and consistently maintain high standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a close-knit community like Key Biscayne, school crossing guards are more than just a familiar face at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20629,70835,2345,1126,11890,126,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-146454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-crossing-guard","tag-crossing-guard-day","tag-fdot","tag-florida-department-of-transportation","tag-jared-perdue","tag-key-biscayne","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}