The Scotia-Glenville school district wants to block enforcement of a new village ordinance limiting parking in front of Lincoln Elementary School.
The Board of Education on Monday voted to seek an injunction in state Supreme Court against implementation of the new law, which prohibits stopping and standing on Albion Street and Albermarle Road between 8 and 9 a.m. and 3 and 4 p.m.
Village officials maintain that buses and cars stopping on the street create a safety nightmare. But school district spokesman Robert Hanlon says there is not a lot school officials can do. They tell parents not to hang around unnecessarily.
“Parents come to pick up their kids and leave. We understand it is a disaster during those times,” he said.
The parking situation has existed for the roughly 60 years that the school has been there. “It’s no different than how Mohawk Avenue is at rush hour,” Hanlon said.
School officials are sending letters to parents informing them of the situation. Parents will have to drop off their children on Meriline Street, the side street behind the school.
The district will spend $12,000 to pave over 14 parking spaces to create a drop-off zone behind the basketball court to get its buses off the street. In addition, it will have staffers guide the students as they walk through the parking lots to get to school.
“It’s created an undue expense,” Hanlon said. “We don’t think procedurally this was handled properly by the village.”
He said the district will go forward with the roadwork and at least temporarily with the other changes even if it obtains the injunction.
Hanlon said Mayor Kris Kastberg has contacted the superintendent’s office about the situation, but school officials did not know the level of frustration felt by the village Board of Trustees or that they were considering this ordinance until two weeks ago.
Kastberg said he was “extremely disappointed” when informed of the school board’s action. He said village trustees were concerned about safety with the number of cars during the peak morning and afternoon hours.
“It would be virtually impossible to get an emergency vehicle down that street if anything happened,” he said.
Kastberg has had conversations with school officials but the process has been going very slowly. “I know that what we did was completely legal and in the best interest of the village. I’ve had letters from parents concerned about the situation,” he said.
He said he has had two generations of children go through that school. Students used to be dropped off on Meriline Street and then escorted to the main entrance on Albion Street. However, Kastberg said, school officials changed the procedure about 10 years ago so all students would come in the main entrance, and it has been a traffic headache since then.
Kastberg said school officials should not have been caught off guard by the change. The village board introduced the resolution at its July meeting, and then Kastberg sent letters to the school superintendent, principal and director of transportation.
Relations between the school district and village have been somewhat strained lately. Scotia officials have asked the district to waive $50,000 worth of annual taxes on its water supply and treatment facility on Vley Road. The Board of Education on Monday took that off the table.
“I’m getting very concerned about the relationship between the school district and village at this point,” Kastberg said.