Every school in my neighborhood has some church service on Sundays - 2 elementary schools, the middle school and the high school. These aren’t temporary arrangements, but rather permanent. The churches don’t have the capital outlay, the schools make a little money on space that would otherwise sit empty on Sundays. When the drama department has a play, all sets have to be pushed back on weekends. After a Saturday night play, the entire place needs to be cleaned up before leaving for the night. The parking lot at the high school is fine, but the other schools don’t have students driving to the schools, so their lots are rather small. The middle school is next to a sports park which has more spots, but of course there are sports events (soccer, lacrosse, football) and those people want to park too. Luckily, no one in Florida cares if you park on the grass. Everyone parks on the grass. Under signs that say “Don’t park on the grass!” the cops park on the grass. Everyone parks on the grass. Big monster trucks. On the grass.
The swim facility needs to take control of their spots. Cones, ropes, tow trucks? Whatever it takes. However, before they tow, they need to make sure those spots are just for them. Usually a building permit requires a certain number of parking spaces, and if this is public land, make sure these spots are truly dedicated to the pool. Can curbs be installed separating the spots from the school? A different access? This should be the job of public works, the parks department, whoever runs the pool.
My family was one of the ones that started a small church in our community back in 2001. We used to meet in an elementary school. Now we meet in a middle school. Our average attendance is about 350, but we can get up to 800 or so at Christmas and Easter. We’ve had a great relationship with the school district the entire time. I think our biggest issue was not putting some chairs back in the library exactly the way they were set up when we got there. The librarian was not a happy camper. We apologized and sent her flowers. We paid a very low rent for years, but now we’ve signed a five-year agreement for a larger amount.
Another local church disbanded and “sold” us their building for $1. We use it for staff offices, youth group meetings, women’s events, etc. It really is nice not to have a huge mortgage - we can spend more money on helping people!
Occasionally, there will be a big soccer tournament right next to the school. The town police are good at directing everyone to appropriate parking.
Oh, I just remembered that when we first started meeting at the middle school, one of the neighbors complained about separation of church and state not being followed. As others have pointed out, if a school lets ANY group use their building, they can’t discriminate against a church.
I agree that there seems to be better communication in smaller communities.
When decisions are made, the " deciders" ;), care more about accountability, because their friends and neighbors are the ones affected.
I’ve been thinking about this situation, EK, and although I understand and sympathize with your predicament, I wonder whether the “pool” spots are in fact only supposed to be used by pool patrons. At Seattle parks and community centers I’ve visited I don’t recall spots designated for certain patrons. I think of those lots as public parking, available for whomever wants to park there regardless of what brings them to the neighborhood. Perhaps the situation you’re describing differs from my experience and has spots that are posted as being for pool patrons only.
I wouldn’t expect a public school principal to be involved in matters about parking outside of school hours. It seems that would be a matter for the school district department that oversees leasing to outside entities. It sounds like the principal was trying to respond with humor about a matter outside of his control. I’d give him some slack, since being a principal is a thankless and impossible job IMO.
Approaching the church directly seems like a good idea.
I’m going to have to go by our community center/pool and look at the parking spaces, because now that you mention it, zip-I don’t think there are “pool only” spaces there. There are handicapped spaces and hybrid car spaces, but I’ve not noticed pool spaces. I was thinking that the principal was going for humor too-the letter from the pool ladies was probably #741 of things people have complained to him about in just this month.
I think it’s a great idea to talk to the church. If they’re like us, they want to get along with their “neighbors.”
Our previous church was located in a neighborhood, and we tried to be very sensitive about clogging up the street with all our cars. It was hard in the winter, though.
I imagine the church has a crew that shows up early to set up everything - that’s how it works at our church. Maybe one of their people could put out cones, seriously.
I assure you that the spaces are designated for the pool only, how unobservant do you think I am?
I did take a photo yesterday as a student pulled into one of the last spaces, before I could ask him not to, but I apparently took a video not a sti
“pool only” is stenciled large on each space & smaller parking signs in red & white are posted along the facing wall, along with the number to call the police for violators.
I tried calling the police before class, but was stuck in an endless loop that wouldn’t let me leave a message or speak to a person.
Haven’t tried again.
I’m sure I can find a way to get a clip from the video.
( the principal has final
Decision about rental of the building)
A local news station is interested, as they are doing a larger story about parking in the city.
( they contacted me, I just replied to their query on FB)
I was trying to show the pool only sign, then it looked like the photo change didn’t go through, but today I hadn’t noticed the change. I think I’ll change it back to something more springlike.
