Columbia High School Assistant Principal Terry Woolard is asking local residents not to park in lots reserved for CHS teachers.
“School is in session and [residents] should not be parking in the school lots,” wrote Woolard in an email to Village Green. “We are having difficulty with people taking teachers spots and this is causing a problem as teachers have to hunt for a place to park to teach our children. We want to give everyone the opportunity to move their vehicles before law enforcement is involved and tow trucks are called.”
Woolard added that the parking spots in question were at the high school at “the main lot (which we call the flagpole lot) on Parker, the gym lot and the Valley lot which are on Valley on both sides of the street, and the Gleason lot which is on Parker by the train trestle on the other side of the old Gleason Cleaners. We have no problem with people parking there overnight as long as they are gone by 6:00 a.m., which is when our custodians, lunch and some staff begin arriving.”
Teachers are also struggling with parking at Maplewood Middle School where there are not enough designated spots for teachers and teachers are getting parking tickets as a result.
During an update at the October 18, 2022 Township Committee meeting, TC member and former Mayor Frank McGehee reported, “The Chief is already working, in the Mayor’s words, as well, with the [school district] administration there to address an issue regarding permits. There has been some desire by some middle school teachers to have designated parking. Obviously that’s an issue because you have to take into consideration zoning and other permanent factors as well. We’re waiting from information back from that cohort and after that, we’ll decide what to do.”
