After parking at the ESF has become more and more unruly and traffic highly dangerous for the children, the school has issued new rules for parking in December 2008. Parents have asked the Parents’ Association for a clarification, which we try to give here.
The PA was consulted by the school direction on how to address issues related to bad behaviour in the schools’ parking areas. This is following several complaints mainly from parents directly to the school and the school security.
Most problems relate to the parking of cars for the full day (which has never been allowed, even if tolerated) and to the lack of respect by some parents towards fellow parents and towards children’s safety during the drop-off and pick-up times. With the growing population of students and disproportionate growing number of complaints, and after looking at different possible solutions the PA agreed to the introduction of a parking permit.
Since this system is also used by non-members plus not all members necessarily park at the school, the PA could not underwrite it; therefore the cost of producing the permits has to be borne by those who need it. Considering the different options with respect to continued use of the parking area and extra costs of employing persons to control the parking (more than currently done by security/hausmeisters), the permit was seen as the compromise solution. It should be recognised that the parking area was never designed as a ‘Park and Ride’ system that some believe it should be. It is for persons to park whilst conducting business in the school, e.g. meetings between parents and teachers.
The reasons for the school to introduce the parking permits include:
1) Concerning the questionable behaviour of some users of the ESF parking facilities: In order to get a grip on unwanted situations, we need to know who these persons are, by registering them. The system with parking permits has proven to be helpful for that purpose in other schools.
2) The aim of the school is to bring the message across that it is not a right with an open ending to park at the ESF premises.
3) The ESF want to be able to control who uses the parking and for what purposes. In this respect, for parents who use the ESF parking for the whole day, will be warned first and finally will lose their permit to park when they would continue this bad habit. In addition it is possible that persons not connected to the ESF are also taking advantage of the current situation.
4) The ESF would like to underline that their objectives are in fact identical with the majority of parents and hope to improve the parking situation by this measure, which is certainly not meant as a ‘punishment’ for parents who behave in a correct manner; on the contrary, it enables the school to identify the persons who profit from their premises in an anti-social way.
Questions and Answers:
Q. We have a baby-sitter or relative who regularly picks-up or drops off our child, can we ask for an additional permit?
A. The 2 permit per family limit has already been lifted as long as it is known for what purpose the additional permit is needed.
Q. If we change the car and therefore the license number, do we need to buy a new permit?
A. No. The permit will have a number but the registration number is not included in the permit, therefore if you change your car(s) simply inform the security office who will update their records.
Q. From where do we buy the permit?
A. Directly from ESF Security in the Secondary Building.
Q. Do I need to organize a permit for the taxi/minibus which takes my kids to school?
A. No