Methacton High School’s resident senior and junior drivers are once again in a tight spot. 

Recent announcements on the Warrior News revealed the intention of Worcester Township to ticket and tow any student cars found parked on the public access road leading into the gated community of Chadwick Place, across Germantown Pike from the school.  The township considers the community private property, and plans to use the crackdown to discipline student drivers who ignore the no parking signs up and down the drive and use the convenient location of the access road as an alternative to the MHS parking lot.

The rules and regulations governing the MHS lot have long been the subject of debate between students and faculty.  Many students complain that the stringent parking guidelines found in the student handbook are unfair to those people who may not have a car themselves, or that need to drive every day to get to school.

Because of this, drivers at MHS have been creative in finding substitutes for the school lot.  A long-time tradition of student parking at the Seventh Day Adventist Church across Kriebel Mill Road ended when church officials demanded that the school take action against students parking in the church lot, despite private property warnings.  Several students were fined as a result.

This incident is but one example of how student drivers at MHS are becoming desperate in their search to circumvent the cumbersome parking rules that govern the school lot.  A better understanding of those rules, however, might be the key to ending the cycle of parking woes.   

Mr. Bontempo, one of MHS’s vice-principals, attempts here to answer some of the primary questions on the minds of student drivers.

Q: Most other area schools have parking every day. Why doesn't MHS?

A: ‘There are not enough parking spaces for every senior to have a place to park.  Therefore, the fairest solution is to limit the parking by the means we use (every-other day).’

Q: How many parking spots are actually registered to students?

A: ‘There are 256 parking spaces for students.  There are 476 seniors listed in the computer today; 305 of them have registered to park as of today (Friday, November 20, 2009).’

Q: How many everyday passes are issued, and for what reasons?

A: ‘Very few everyday passes are issued.  Students who have a curriculum-related need are the ones who get everyday passes.  These students include students in Allied Health or Biotechnology who start their school day in a location other than Methacton.’

Q: If our lot really does have a space problem, why are there always so many open spots?

A: ‘There are open spots because not every senior registers a car, especially in the beginning of the year.  Many register as the year goes on when they have access to a vehicle and/or insurance and the current 305 registrations will gradually increase, thereby diminishing the number of open spaces.’ 

Q: Why are students who share a car allowed to share passes (Two students getting passes for opposite days to drive the same car)?

A: ‘Students are not permitted to share a car unless they are siblings.  Every year there are several small accidents in our parking lot.  For insurance purposes, the liability must always go directly back to the owner of the car (parent).  This would not be the case if an unrelated student were driving the car.  We can not knowingly allow this circumstance to exist on the school property.’

Q: What are the chances of the size, and the number of entrances and exits to the lot, being improved?

A: ‘In my opinion, the entrances and exits are acceptable as they are.  The size of the lot can not be significantly enlarged because of zoning statutes governing the amount of impervious surface area on a site.  In other words, there must be enough grass area to accept and absorb the rain runoff from a parking lot and building structures (impervious to water absorption) so that surrounding properties are not flooded on a regular basis.’

Despite an increase in senior class sizes in the foreseeable future, the parking situation at MHS is not likely to change, as the law will not permit the expansion of parking facilities, or the revision of the current regulations.  Student drivers will simply have to deal with the parking system as it stands.