Though we’ve put up with it in the past, it may finally be time to do something about the warzone that is the Pennridge High School parking lot. Parking at Pennridge High School has been an issue for as long as some teachers have been around. It’s certainly becoming a bigger problem recently with the introduction of mandatory RAMs times. With winter weather, two-hour delays, and Keystone testing, parking has become even more of a headache, with more and more students, parents, and teachers all cramming into the parking lot at the same time. On a normal school day, these parking problems are not nearly as severe, but one delay, one late morning, can make all the difference. Between parents parking in teacher spots, students being late to class due to bad management, or traffic being held up all the way back to AutoZone, something needs to change with our parking lots, and it needs to be changed quickly.
Starting with our parking lots in general, there aren’t enough parking spots for every eligible student, causing many licensed students to park on residential streets or in nearby parking lots, forcing them to walk to school, which could result in late arrivals. Molly Fannon, a student at Pennridge, plans to leave earlier to get to class on time, but “ends up still sitting in some traffic.” And she states, “Sometimes traffic is so bad they have to delay attendance.” Experiences like these aren’t usually found on any given day, but when delays or testing happen, these incidents pop up much more regularly. Even on regular days, with the new addition of RAMs and the late arrival opportunity, Molly states, “More parents will drop their kids off when the start time is later because of the convenience of waking up later, causing more traffic.” Our parking lots are a choice between being 10 minutes late or 10 minutes early, and it isn’t just students who feel these struggles.
Sarah Serfass, a teacher at Pennridge High School, has her own troubles with parking lot traffic in the morning, stating, “It has always been bad to have the parent drop off in front of the school,” And it doesn’t seem like these issues will change. Serfass says, “They have tried to change traffic patterns and drop off points,” but due to the state our morning traffic is in, we can assume these attempts came up short. There have been plenty of incidents related to students arriving late to class due to the traffic, and some students even begun to rely on taking shortcuts. Change needs to be made if we want our parking lots to be organized and –especially – safe. Serfass proposes to “have buses run a second route to pick up more students.” Which would easily decrease the amount of space buses take up in the morning hustle. Molly Fannon says, “Parent drop off could have a more general area to park and drop off.” This is the heavy hitter. Having one area for parents to drop off their children can make all the difference in the speed at which students can get into school. Not only do students with parking spots get into their spots faster, but car-rider students can get dropped off without having to weave in and out of other vehicles trying to turn into their parking spots.
Some big change needs to be made for Pennridge parking and traffic to ease up. Big changes that would take multiple months, if not years, to realize. Although the morning rush is a headache for everyone involved, if we want anything to be done about it, students, teachers, and parents need to remain patient and hope that somebody in power here at Pennridge listens to us and does something about these issues. Parking problems here at PHS are nothing new; they’ve been around for longer than most teachers have even been employed, but nothing will change if we don’t speak up about it.
