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Parking problems linger at school Education authority looking at issue in effort to find solution
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 3, 2013
INUVIK
The Inuvik District Education Authority is still looking to tidy up the parking situation at East Three school.
Parents picking up or dropping off their children at East Three School is causing congestion in the parking lot. The district education authority is looking into the issue. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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A year after opening, the school continues to grapple with parking and traffic issues caused mostly by people dropping children off and picking them up.
It's a situation the authority has been looking at again over the last few weeks, said authority member Tony Devlin. He was willing to address the issue, while others, including Paul MacDonald, declined to discuss it.
Last year, when the school opened, numerous concerns were mentioned about the parking and drop-off zones. At that time, a lack of signage was fingered as the primary culprit.
Now, with school resuming, the difficulties are back.
It's been a hot topic on Facebook in town over the last two weeks.
“We're looking at a few solutions,” Devlin said in a telephone interview. “Some at the administrative level, some not.
“One thing we've asked is that teachers not use the kindergarten parking lot,” he continued. “We want to save those for parents dropping off and picking up kids.”
Devlin said “one of the biggest problems is that parents are using the drop-off zones as parking spaces as they take their children in.”
He said that causes a lot of general congestion at the school, exacerbating the entire traffic problem, which is due primarily to the fact that a high number of children don't walk to school.
“We're trying to encourage people to use the actual parking spaces if they're going to leave their vehicle,” he said.
“Overall, we are taking a pretty serious look at the signage system again, for the second time. Signs did get put up and they are helping, but there are a few areas where a new sign might be worth it.”
Lunchtime is a particular problem. Devlin said parents are complaining it's taking longer to pick up their children than it takes to provide a meal, which is a frustrating situation.
“It's a bit of an issue on that front,” he said. “It boils down to having respect for your neighbours.”
The education authority has sent a letter to the town to collaborate on some off-site solutions as well, Devlin said. The GNWT has also been involved in the discussions since a back entrance to the school hasn't been in use due to construction work.
Devlin called the back entrance a “safety valve to release some of the pressure” on the school's lot.
“As construction wraps up, we're hoping some of the problems will be alleviated.
“What we're trying to do is communicate the idea of traffic flow to people, and emphasizing that's the only way this will work.”
The issue has caused some renewed attention to the idea of getting a school bus in town, particularly for the youngest students, but Devlin said he wasn't prepared to discuss that situation at the moment. It's something the authority is looking at, though.
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