Teachers face daily challenge in parking lot

Each school day, students drag themselves up from their comfortable, warm beds to face their first morning class. Rushing their children to class, many parents opt to drop off their children in the back parking lot. For many teachers, this daily traffic jam has caused numerous headaches and plenty of annoyance.

The back parking lot has always been reserved for staff members, but this restriction only applies to the parking spots. Parents and students are free to drive through the lot whenever they want, disrupting teachers’ arrival and departure schedules.

“Parents are so intent on dropping their kid off and then going someplace else, like work or errands or whatever, that they really do not pay attention,” history teacher Kim Anzalone said. “It has been a problem for years and years.”

Anzalone says there are several main parent behaviors that cause problems for teachers trying to arrive at school on time.

“They stop their car and let their kid out in the middle of the parking lot to let their kid get to class on time, backing up the rest of the traffic,” Anzalone said. “And it’s like, ‘Is it all about you?’ Also, parents drive right in the middle of the lane. If they could go to the right side a bit, we teachers could come in on the left side a bit and get into a parking spot.”

She has also noticed that the safety of other students is put in jeopardy by the presence of parents in the back parking lot.

“Parents do not pay attention to the kids that are walking across the parking lot to get to school,” Anzalone said. “I see a lot of people putting on their brakes because a kid walks in front of them.”

For English teacher Amy Keys, parents picking up their children after school is more of a problem for teachers trying to get out of the lot.

“If someone has an appointment, it is hard to actually pull out, because parents are waiting for their children to go home [and blocking the road],” Keys said. 

In previous years, traffic directors were posted at the back parking lot to keep the flow of traffic moving and to help ensure student safety, but this measure was not very effective, according to Anzalone. 

“You have to pay an extra person and it doesn’t always work anyway,” Anzalone said. “It puts a [large] burden on the [traffic director].”

Anzalone believes that closing the back parking lot to parents and students would make it much easier for teachers to arrive and leave on time. It would also keep students safer, according to Anzalone.

“I would love to have [the school] change how it is structured, because I think it is dangerous right now,” Anzalone said. “ [But] you can’t really make it bigger, because it is a finite amount of space.”

Teachers have different ways of dealing with the daily time crunch of getting to school and dealing with the parents in their parking lot.

“We’ve talked about a ton of solutions, but none are practical,” Anzalone said. “So the staff have to take it upon themselves to get here early. 7:35 at the very latest, if we want to avoid the headache.”