When I first imagined driving to school, I was so excited. It was finally time for me to be set free from driving with my dad, who is a Spanish teacher at the high school and leaves at 7:30 a.m. on the dot. Little did I know, if I wanted a “good” spot, I’d have to leave even earlier, around 7:25.
The oval is universally known for being the most frustrating, unpredictable, time-draining place to park ever. You could pretty much go into school with a completely untouched car and come out with it totaled, towed or ticketed.
Let me set the scene for you. It’s Friday afternoon, raining outside, you just finished the hardest chem lab you’ve had all year. It’s muggy and 70-ish degrees outside, but the heat is still on in school. You’re now hot, wet and annoyed. All you want to do is get home. You get to your car and to your despair, you can’t even pull out of your parking spot. You look up and three cars are parked in front of a stop sign with their hazards on, waiting to pick people up. It takes you a full 15 minutes to make it all the way around the oval and turn on South Woodland.
Shaker Heights High School does not provide any dedicated parking for students. Students who drive to school are expected to park on what’s known to many students as the oval. The oval comprises Onaway Road, Aldersyde Drive and Laurel Road. Students may also park on Parkland Drive beside the administration building.
The district also provides no busing or transportation to the high school. I fully recognize and appreciate my ability to drive to school every day. Even the worst day on the oval is better than what students who have to walk suffer.
There are many problems with the oval, some more pressing than others. Overcrowding is certainly one of them.
A solution to overcrowding was presented by English teacher Chris Cotton to David Glasner, superintendent, in 2024, but was denied. I think Mr. Cotton’s solution is genius because not only could it increase parking efficiency, it could also even help with the car accident issue. Cotton’s plan converts the current parallel parking on the oval into diagonal parking.
Not only are there overcrowding issues, but the amount of accidents I’ve seen and heard of are too many to remember. I thought we were supposed to learn how to parallel park in driving school, people? Another thing we were supposed to learn in driving school: not driving the wrong way on a one-way street. A lot of people must have skipped through that lesson.
The only administrator I could find today who agreed to comment was Dean of Students Greg Zannelli. He said there has been no prior effort to implement a police officer in the front parking lot to direct traffic and pedestrians during arrival and dismissal.
Even if someone invented a solution that could make driving and parking on the oval a lot more tolerable, if I had to choose, I’d just demolish it all.
I could go into more specific detail on things people do around the oval that really tick me off, like leaving a less than one-inch gap between cars, or the opposite: leaving a three-foot gap. But, the most consistent issue, without fail, is always someone blocking me from getting out.
Look, you can call me dramatic or say I’m overreacting, but from what I’ve heard, my dread of the oval seems pretty universal. All I truly know is I sure will miss SHHS when I graduate next year, but I definitely won’t miss the oval.
