Just in time for the start of school, construction is set to begin on solar carports at Newton South High School. According to a letter from Principal Joel Stembridge, it seems there will be a significant loss of parking until at least November, and parking spaces are being marked out on Brandeis Road, which is already pretty tough to navigate at peak times.
If we really want to go green, we should take the opportunity to find ways to reduce traffic at South and encourage students to get to school without a car. With the temporary loss of parking and road capacity, it seems like a great time to start that discussion. I’m still holding out hope that someone will seize the opportunity to make a safe path for students, who generally end up walking directly through heavy morning drop-off traffic in the parking lot. Our kids deserve better. It seems when South was expanded, nobody considered how kids would get to the new Goldrick entrance unless they were driven. We’ve done a little better since then at school design, but old habits die hard.
Got the email yesterday and was wondering why the late notice. Although if a student was planning on driving and now needs to take the bus, some planning should have happened prior to yesterday.
I believe that the yellow bus should have NO fee or a $100 fee/kid to encourage taking the bus, especially since there is the regular bus after school, the late bus and the late late bus.
And the poor residents around NSHS will have student cars all over the neighborhood.
That’s some really good timing there. I’d say there’s a serious disconnect between the people who planned this solar car port installation, and the people who run the school. It’s clearly not Principal Stembridge’s fault. But I’d love to know whose fault it is that this work was not done in the summer. And maybe Setti should be paying a little more attention to what’s going on in Newton, rather than spending so much time on party politics and assault weapons. Just sayin’!
I’m thinking this is the last thing a high school principal wants to deal with at the start of school.
I think you’re right, Adam. I’d imagine the Principal is probably pretty ticked about it. I have nothing against solar car ports. They seem like a good thing. But the timing of this is just absurd. And the fact that we’re installing luxury items like solar car ports while kids are still going to school in a “shed,” gives me one more reason to remind the public how out of touch School Committee members are with reality.
The timing was out of the hands of the principal or anyone else except for the city who made the deal with the company who installs, maintains (hopefully) and owns the solar carports. I have no idea why the beginning of school was selected but the timing of the deal was intentionally made so the city could get the most money from the state before the time ran out.
It seems the city is always doing things at the last minute – leaving no time for planning correctly. The same with the shed. (I still don’t get anything about using that thing.)
If proper planning had been completed, it seems it would have been feasible to create a student walkway at the same time and to change the bus fees to limit the cars. Does any department talk to the other in this city?
Mike, solar panels are not a luxury item. In fact, only the most privileged can afford business as usual.
http://www.livescience.com/55469-2016-could-be-hottest-year-on-record.html
Nathan– I should have chosen a different adjective. Other than the problematic timing of the installation, I have nothing against solar car ports. But when it comes to the operation of our school system, there are some things that just burn my behind…
The entire population of Village 14 knows how I feel about the School Committee’s handling of early morning start times. And I think they’re just damned fools for exposing kids to the types of brain and orthopedic injuries associated with tackle football…
Over the years I’ve taken note of the misplaced trust parents place in the School Committee. I think a lot of that trust has evaporated with recent revelations about lead in school water fountains…
But one of the things that irritates me the most, is the School Committee’s use of “The Shed” for struggling and vulnerable students at Newton South. They can’t plead ignorance. People like my friend, Neal Fleisher, have been calling them out on this issue for more than a decade. So if I had to choose between solar car ports or replacing “The Shed,” the car ports really do seem like a “luxury’ item/
which, of course, is a false dichotomy, but carry on…