When school began, faculty and staff felt the loss of 35 parking spaces in the high school lots, and now, students are feeling it, too.
The turf field and track renovation prompted the Shaker Heights fire marshal to eliminate 35 unofficial parking spaces in the north and south lots that employees had relied on for years. According to Principal Michael Griffith, the high school has approximately 225 staff but only 170 parking spots in school parking lots.
The solution, which Griffith announced via faculty email Sept. 6, sets aside 35 spots on the oval from the North Gym entrance to Woodbury Road. Shaker Heights police posted signs there stating parking is allowed by permit only from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. on school days.
The night the decision was made, students received an automated phone call explaining the new policy. Some students, such as junior Beth Cheverine, met the change with opposition. “As someone who drives to school every day it’s an inconvenience to have to get to school by 7:30 each day to get a good spot,” Cheverine said.
Griffith said that staff used to park on the sidewalk and in fire lane areas around the building. “We looked at many different options,” to solve the shortage, Griffith said. He said he didn’t want to add a parking lot or take away any green space, and wanted to set aside only as many spots on the oval as were lost in the lots.
Cheverine predicts the loss of 35 spaces for students on the oval will become a bigger problem over time. “It’s going to get progressively worse as more students start to get their licenses this year,” she said. The first day of the new policy, teachers seemed to not have gotten the memo. From the North Gym entrance to Woodbury Road there were hardly any teachers parked. Students, on the other hand, had to park further down Ashford Road.
Enforcement of the policy falls to the police, not the school.
Griffith said, “We’ll see what happens.”
A version of this article appeared in print on 19 September 2012, on page 4 of The
Shakerite.
