New changes require students to park in the north parking lot

Story by Ryan Choe

At the beginning of the 2019-20 school year, administration implemented a new parking system for students and faculty under directions from Columbia Public Schools. Prior to the new scheme, students and faculty were permitted to park in either the north or south parking lots. 

Now, however, students are mostly required to park in the north lot while the faculty park in the south lot. 50 to 55 spots in the south lot are for students on a first-come first-serve system for students who still wish to park in the south for reasons such as school activities.

Darryl Heaton, the parking supervisor at RBHS, said the board and the superintendent decided to make these changes: not RBHS itself. He also said the main reason for these changes was to appease Columbia Public Schools’ (CPS) insurance company, Naught Naught. Ultimately, the transition to a single point of entry occurred to address safety concerns.

“The main reason for all of these parking changes is that [CPS’] insurance company gives the school board and the superintendent objectives that they have to follow for the school year, such as hardening certain aspects of security in our buildings,” Heaton said. “So, it’s not only at Rock Bridge that these changes are happening. It’s all across the district.”

Assistant Principal Dr. Tim Baker, who was in charge of implementing the new parking method, added that the insurance pressure was not new. There was years of prodding to increase security in RBHS’ open campus.

“District safety people and insurance people have always worried about this building in particular because it is very easy to get in and very easy to get out,” Dr. Baker said. “From a safety perspective, that’s bad. So, a conclusion was made by the higher ups to go to a single point of entry for students.”

Baker said the uniqueness of the building compelled school administration to have two points of entry: the north entrance and the main east entrance. The new parking organization was finalized because of two main reasons.

“Number one was that [the north lot] holds the most spots, and number two was [the Columbia Area Career Center (CACC)],” Baker said. “There’s so much traffic that goes between us and the career center that [it] made all the sense in the world for North to be the single point of student entry throughout the day.”

Dr. Baker said another reason why North became the students’ designated area was because the south entrance of the building has stairs, which would inconvenience disabled students and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

CACC took an additional 50 North parking spots away from RBHS over the summer to expand its own parking lot.

As a result of the parking changes, parent drop-off and buses this year share the circle drive, while parent pick-up is still at the South parking lot. The buses are supposed to occupy the left side of the circle drive, and parents should enter through the right side. 

Jacob Sirna, the principal at RBHS said the reason for parents being in South for parent-pick up was because of parents waiting before recommended times for students. 

“When it becomes around four, the entire circle drive is packed with buses. There is no possible way that parents could fit in the circle drive at that time,” Sirna said. “Even though we tell parents to come here around 4:15, parents are still waiting before, even as early as 3:30. If parents were in the circle drive that early, then there would be no space for buses coming in.”

Sophomore Ava Schweser thinks the drop-off system was fine as it was before. She said time was a big issue for her when she’s on the bus, and she doesn’t feel any safer.

“I’m always late for school because the line is just so long to even get to the circle drive,” Schweser said. “The traffic on Nifong is terrible. I just think parents should be able to drop off in the South [parking lot], and buses should be in the circle drive.”

Senior Luke Milyo, who is a Wind Ensemble member, said he first thought the new system would be a huge inconvenience and still finds the routine rather questionable. However, Milyo agreed with Baker about the topic of a perfect parking system. 

“As for ideal parking system, I don’t think there is one,” Milyo said. “RBHS has no room to expand and there’s not much that can be done about that other than sending people to other schools or doing some major construction.”

Before Milyo discovered that students could still park in South, he was upset that he would have to park in North. It would be inconvenient for Milyo to park in North only to have to haul his trombone back down to the South where the music department, football field and practice sessions are. However, when Milyo found out he could still park in South, he was relieved.

“For marching band, we all get there way early and are able to park there and get into the south entrance and operate efficiently,” Milyo said. “When marching band ends I’ll have to make sure to still come early so I can grab a spot, but [overall] it works pretty well.”

Similarly to Milyo’s response, junior Vignesh Kumar was initially confused when he heard about the implementation of the new parking system. Inconveniences aside, Kumar said he is glad that the school has taken initiative, hoping the school and district are encouraged to take on more practical safety measures that contribute to an environment where students and staff feel more comfortable. 

“While I recognize that it poses a slight inconvenience to me, it was a price I was willing to pay if it meant even a marginally safer school,” Kumar said.

Circle drive drop off creates confusion among students, parents

Story by Brandon Kim

As a result of the one-entrance policy CPS established this year, parent drop-off and buses share the circle drive, while parent pick-up is still at the South parking lot. The buses are supposed to occupy the left side of the circle drive, and parents should enter through the right side. 

From the beginning of the year, buses and parents have been following the new system as the original plan dictates. However, the buses also enter through the right side, congesting the entrance to the circle drive. Parents then slide into open spots between the buses and exit out the other side.

Jacob Sirna, the principal at RBHS said the reason for parents being in South for parent-pick up was because of parents waiting before recommended times for students. 

“When it becomes around four, the entire circle drive is packed with buses. There is no possible way that parents could fit in the circle drive at that time,” Sirna said. “Even though we tell parents to come here around 4:15, parents are still waiting before, even as early as 3:30. If parents were in the circle drive that early, then there would be no space for buses coming in.”

Darryl Heaton, the parking supervisor at RBHS, said the board and the superintendent decided to make these changes: not RBHS itself. He also said the main reason for these changes was to follow the suggestions of CPS’s insurance company, Naught Naught.

“The main reason for all of these parking changes is that [CPS’] insurance company gives the school board and the superintendent objectives that they have to follow for the school year, such as hardening certain aspects of security in our buildings,” Heaton said. “So, it’s not only at Rock Bridge that these changes are happening. It’s all across the district.”

Heaton also said the circle drive situation is operating as planned because traffic flow is smooth. Also, he mentioned it was a challenge to find an efficient parking system with so many students this year.

“It’s working very good [given] all of the students we have,” Heaton said. “It’s a lot better [now] than the beginning of the year because it takes a while to adjust to new parking systems. I think people are understanding how it works so they can get in and out quicker.”

RBHS parent Xiaoqin Zou disapproves of the changes to the parking system because she does not see the point of restricting the South entrance when it is open for band, and the circle drive lines are too long for her. 

“I don’t like the new parent drop off system,” Zou said. “Before, there were three drop off sites. Now there are only two: the north entrance and the main entrance. The South entrance is closer to the band hall and is also more convenient to the students who live in the south and walk to school, so why not leave the South entrance open? Security could not be the reason because the other two entrances are open anyway.”

Like Zou, sophomore Ava Schweser thinks the drop-off system was fine as it was before. She said time was a big issue for her when she’s on the bus, and she doesn’t feel any safer.

“I’m always late for school because the line is just so long to even get to the circle drive,” Schweser said. “The traffic on Nifong is terrible. I just think parents should be able to drop off in the South [parking lot], and buses should be in the circle drive.”

Heaton said the school always allowed parents to drop off in the circle drive. The only difference is, now, all parents are required to drop off at the circle drive.

“It’s always been shared because we’ve always had parents dropping off at the south parking lot as well as the circle drive,” Heaton said. “It’s just that more people are now coming into the circle drive.”

Though some students may support these changes in Rock Bridge, sophomore Ian Morgan highlights traffic as a primary reason he doesn’t see the changes as beneficial. Morgan said the traffic getting out of Rock Bridge and into the circle drive is a problem for him because of the narrow roads.

“I don’t think the logistics of combining buses and cars is a good idea because the circle drive is very narrow and getting out is a pain because the traffic is bad with people going into North,”  Morgan said. “Keesha is trying to divert the traffic, but it hasn’t gotten much better. As it is, Rock Bridge is very overpopulated, and I believe that the system that they had worked and I don’t know why they changed a good system.”

Traffic around Rock Bridge not only affects students and parents but also businesses around RBHS. Principal Jacob Sirna recently received some complaints from Corporate Lake Properties with parents parking in their parking lot and disrupting business flow. 

“Our parking lot gets pretty congested at the end of the school day with parents parking in our lot waiting on their students and with students that walk through the parking lot rather than using the sidewalks,” a representative from Corporate Lake Properties wrote in an email to Sirna. “The easements going into the parking lot are very narrow and this is not only a safety concern but also impedes on business, as this is usually our busiest time of the day. It is causing our customers to park further away from our office due to the extra vehicles.”

In response, RBHS posted the complaint in the Infobruin and addressed parents: reminding them about proper parking procedures. Sirna said as the population of RBHS grows, it becomes a challenge to regulate traffic and for parents to find spaces to wait for students in the South parking lot on skinny Southampton Drive.

“The traffic getting in and out of Rock Bridge has always been hectic, and part of the problem is where Rock Bridge lies,” Sirna said. “This is a school created for only 600 students when it was built, and there wasn’t much development around here and was a calm part of town in terms of traffic. That’s not the case anymore. We don’t have direct access to Providence, and Southampton Drive is the only way you can really get out of Rock Bridge. If this was a perfect world, we would build a ramp that would take us directly to Providence, but the congestion is mainly just where Rock Bridge is.”

How have parking lot changes affected you?