The AMSA parking lots face many problems that aren’t limited to speeding, potholes, and parking in the wrong areas. Unlike the average high school, AMSA utilizes five separate areas for parking and all for different reasons.
Behind the Upper School is the mixed junior/teacher lot, as well as the student pick-up and drop-off area in the morning and afternoon, making it a heavily congested area. In the lot are bright orange signs stating where students may park and where teachers may park, but the guidelines are not often followed.
“You go down that first ramp and it has these signs that are temporary right now,” Principal Mike Nawrocki said. “It’s not really standing out. They’re smaller.”
The White Building has two lots, one designated for seniors and one for teachers, the latter of which was recently reopened after the construction of the school’s new building. This year the senior and teacher lots flipped, with teachers in the lot closest to the new Main Building.
“But I’ve noticed that the lot designated for teachers doesn’t have a lot of cars since teachers park in the mixed student-teacher lot and take student parking,” junior Lauren Walsh said. “I get here no later than 7:15 every morning, so I see firsthand this issue.”
The Main Building itself has its own parking lot, which will be used for teacher parking.
“That lot will all be for staff,” Mr. Nawrocki said. “It takes a little bit of pressure off the existing parking lots, and hopefully it will open up more space for visitors, student drivers, etc.”
There are the parking spots that wrap around the Upper School and Lower School which are regulated for visitors and teachers and also contain the only handicap spots at AMSA.
And then there is the Fore Kicks lot for overfill, but parents often park there in order to get their children out faster.
With students and teachers spread around campus, it makes it much more difficult for the buses and upperclassmen to leave at the end of the day.
“The junior parking lot is very difficult to park in since everybody is coming and going for drop-off and pick-up,” junior Kaitlyn Deptula said.
Adding to the difficulty is the fact that many parents are let in before all the buses leave, making the three-lane merge in front of the Main Building difficult for even experienced drivers.
“With the people who can drive, the buses, and parents all leaving at the same time, it makes it difficult for me to leave school in a timely manner,” Kaitlyn added. “And people are always going past the stop sign that is posted there.”
Kaitlyn mentioned that she prefers the parking at Fore Kicks due to the proximity to the exit as well as the ease of leaving before the traffic begins to pile-up.
“What happens is there’s a big backup at certain points when there are people trying to take a left onto Forest Street — which has traffic coming at you on your left but also on the right— and you have people who may be trying to take a left into Fore Kicks,” Mr. Nawrocki said. “So if the timing isn’t great there, it definitely delays things for a person trying to take a left.”
Officially, the speed limit on campus is 5 mph, but most cars are unable to drive that slowly and the “unofficial limit” is considered 10 mph.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute, teens are much more likely to speed due to their immaturity and inexperience and are therefore more likely to crash.
“I think that there have been observations of some speeding through the parking lots when it’s not heavily supervised or not supervised at all,” Mr. Nawrocki said. “That’s definitely a concern.”
Potholes at the school entrance remain an issue. Due to the weather, it is often difficult to fill in the potholes during both the winter and spring, but even during the drier seasons the holes are not filled properly.
The facility staff themselves fill the potholes due to the quickness of the task and the greatly reduced cost, but because of these quick fixes, the potholes continue to return after days of heavy rain.
While the potholes are small now, they will continue to expand and cause a much larger issue unless properly fixed.
The school administration is weighing possible adjustments, including switching the student and staff lots back again, to alleviate confusion and to prevent students from driving across campus, mostly leaving and coming back from study hall breaks, and often at excessive speed.
