The Express-Times has a report from the Upper Nazareth Supervisors' meeting related to a problem that exists in the neighborhood adjacent to the HS (read the article here).
Apparently students who can't get a parking permit in the school lot are parking along the narrow streets of Mt. Vernon and Briarwood causing safety concerns and at times making the roads impassable.
The situation has been compounded by the loss of parking at Mitchell Avenue due to the construction of the new Middle School.
The Township has decided to ban parking on these streets and suggested the students take the matter up with their school board.
When you consider the money NASD has spent to certify the new building as 'green' and how many people are interested in being green, you have to wonder if it wouldn't be more responsible for the NASD to ban all students from driving to school and require them to use the buses that already go past their homes.
This would be environmentally sound, it would resolve parking problems, and it would reduce traffic in town.
11 comments:
I would have a problem with a district dictating how a student with a drivers license gets him or herself to school...granted schools should not be required to provide parking but to mandate whether or not they can drive themselves seems beyond the control we should allow administrators to have...
I just read the ET article and Briarwood doesn't effect the HS kids--it is in Creekside which is nowhere near the HS---that has to do with bus pick up/drop off--seems parents in Creekside drive rather than walk their kids to the bus stop---once again sidewalks would have prevented alot of this unless they are just lazy out in Creekside(?)
If students are banned from driving to the high school in order for the district to go "green", then that ban MUST be extended to parents that drive their kids to and from the elementary and middle schools as well if they have an assigned bus.
Either that or just terminate bus service.
As with the skate park, this is just another example of adults angry with kids and finding an excuse to penalize/punish them.
At LN, they had to expand the parking lot because of the pick up/drop off traffic. On any given day, the approaches to the MS are a parking lot with the number of cars. The HS appears to have the least amount.
Any rule banning driving needs to be across the board. If you are going to stop the students, then you have to stop the parents as well.
Why stop at the students and parents? Teachers and administrators can go 'green' as well. Only HOV (high occupancy vehicles containing a minimum of 4 passengers) allowed to park in the lot, everyone else should arrive on foot or by bike.
Banning students from driving is not really an option. Seniors who drive to school have given up their right to ride on school buses so there is no room allotted for them. Putting them back on the buses would add to transportation costs.
Although it may not be the case for the students quoted in the article, there are many high school students that do not have parking permits due to the requirements that are in place for qualifying for a parking permit. Students must have the yearly portion of their graduation project completed and sadly many students do not complete this in a timely manner. It does have to be done prior to graduation though!
As far as the Creekside issue, I see the same thing happening in my Upper Nazareth Township neighborhood. Every parent drives their children to the bus stop in our lightly traveled residential subdivision which is within the development itself. For the life of me, I cannot understand the need to drive your children to the bus stop that may be 5 or 6 houses from the stop. Whatever happened to the older children walking with the younger ones? Although we have no sidewalks, our streets are very wide and children can be taught to walk safely against the curb. And if you are not comfortable with having your child walk home, then walk to the stop yourself. With all of the cars parked at the stop, it becomes a hazard for other motorists.
In all honesty, my primary point was to note the hypocrisy in the district's push to be green. They accept the high cost that taxpayers get to absorb to be green, but no one seems to be bothered by an unneccessary number of students driving to school each day with or without parking available, who could be on a bus that goes right by their home.
Why, because the environment matters when it is convenient. No one at the school wants to take action on this because it would be an inconvenience for students, which would upset them and draw complaints from their parents.
Rostering extra students wouldn't be that big a deal and our state reimbursement would go up significantly, of course I also think the buses should be filled to capacity (72 students per bus), which keeps the number of buses to a minimum and provides us with the biggest reimbursement from the state.
Since the district is providing transportation, I think they do have the ability to mandate the use of buses or at the very least not offer parking to students.
I don't think you can dictate that to employees, but you could incentivize them. The savings in gas alone would be a good reason, but maybe a gift card donated by a local business would help encourage them.
I think a lot of the problem at the MS comes from the fact that Borough residents are required to walk. This makes no sense at all. You can't walk along tatamy road, nor can you (school decision) walk through the HS lot and Farmview. Yet they are deemed walkers.
What happens - they walk to a central point (everywhere else we call this a bus stop and the student is identified as a bus rider) and then are 'shuttled' through the Farmview neighborhood or down victory lane to tatamy road.
If people in the township drive a car to a bus stop a tenth of a mile from their house, you can only imagine why people in the borough drive their children to the MS when their bus stop is up to a mile away.
Should be real interesting when the MS becomes the intermediate school and we've got 4th-6th graders over there.
I can understand the issue with the MS. I wouldn't like to walk on Tatamy Rd. either.
But, the elementary schools are another issue. LN spent $.5M last year to expand the parking lot and drop off/pick up area. There are not that many kids that walk to school, so one has to assume that these are PARENTS of kids that have a bus assigned to them. I say again, PARENTS, not kids driving. And the same is repeated at ALL the elementary schools.
If the HS kids are made to give up driving to school, then I suggest we take away that right at the rest of the schools as well.
Sorry, but penalizing one group for the sake of the environment and letting the rest go IS hypocricy.
Anon (11:12 a.m.) - You wrote "For the life of me, I cannot understand the need to drive your children to the bus stop that may be 5 or 6 houses from the stop. Whatever happened to the older children walking with the younger ones?"
I understand your thinking; however, when it's cold and bitter and raining outside, it makes sense to drive to the bus stop so your school-aged child AND baby are protected from the elements - walking to the bus stop is NOT an option.
The cars parked along the street are NOT a hazard for other motorists - - unless they drive on the curb.
Anon 10:11 is right in that cars parked on the street are only a hazard if you do drive on the curb.
One question about the streets where they want to ban the parking, do the residents that live there park on the street as well? My guess is they do, and I would also guess that this ban will now hit them, and they will get ticketed and/or towed if parked there during school hours, or at least should.
Again, a ban is a ban. I think this falls under the be careful what you ask for category. If parking is illegal for students, how do you determine what parked car belongs to a student or a resident? You can't unless you have a person sitting there and watching who gets out of each parked car.
Maybe one of the residents that complained can give up there time to "patrol" the streets because I would hate to see our tax dollars paying for a police officer to do this.
Regarding Mt. Vernon, I can't speak for today, but growing up I had two friends that lived there and you didn't park on the street - it was too narrow.
We always parked in their driveway as a result.
I couldn't imagine what that street would be like with cars parked along it, and most would have to have two wheels in the grass ruining these people's yards in the process.
Environment or not, these students are driving out of convenience. They have alternative transportation and they don't want to take it.
As a result they've caused a neighborhood problem that has required action by the supervisors and police.
Ross,
You hit it on the head:
"Environment or not, these students are driving out of convenience. They have alternative transportation and they don't want to take it."
THIS also applies to the parents that drive their kids, especially elementary, instead of using the bus.
Sorry, the HS kids keep getting ripped on, yet I seem to be the only person that is willing to say that parents are just as bad.
They may not cause a parking problem, but I bet that it would dramatically improve morning traffic flow if their kids were on the bus and not the car.
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