ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609160024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Now a parking ticket can cost more than money for students at Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools in Roanoke.
It can be a ticket out of school.
Under a new policy that takes effect this school year, students can be suspended for parking their vehicles off the schools' campus.
Students can no longer park on streets near the high schools because residents have complained that they were littering, using profanity and disturbing the neighborhoods.
Students must park their vehicles in the schools' parking lots and buy a $6.50 permit.
They can be suspended for repeated violations of the ban on off-campus parking. The principal determines the length of the suspension.
Almost all of the complaints about off-campus parking have come from residents around Patrick Henry High.
"It's been a problem," said Michael Urbanski, president of the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League.
"There have been concerns about the parking, littering and trash, and kids hanging out in the neighborhood," he said Friday. "It gets worse in the spring, when more kids are driving."
Urbanski said the residents hope the new policy will eliminate the problems.
If this approach doesn't work, the residents will ask the city to adopt a permit-parking system around Patrick Henry, he said.
Lindsey King, a junior at Patrick Henry, said she knows students who parked on the streets last year because the parking lot is filled sometimes.
"We need more parking. Near the end of the year after more sophomores get their driver's licenses, we run out of spaces," King said Friday. "Some students have to park on the grass."
King said she understands the need for the policy because residents don't want students parking in their neighborhood.
Junior Ellie Troland said students sometimes have trouble finding a parking space. "If you don't get here before 8:20, it can be a problem," said Troland, who got to the school shortly before 8 a.m. Friday. Classes begin at 8:25.
Junior Jonathan Booth said sophomores and juniors have more trouble finding a parking space than seniors.
"You see that purple curb there, that's a space for seniors," Booth said. "If you're a junior or sophomore, you get screwed."
But Principal Elizabeth Lee doesn't expect the policy will cause any space problems. The school added some parking spaces this summer, she said.
"We haven't had any difficulties so far, but the pressure for space is worse in the spring," Lee said. "We want to be a good neighbor, and we've taken steps to make sure our students know they must park on campus."
She said the students and parents have been notified of the policy in opening-of-school newsletters and assemblies.
Patrick Henry's lot was nearly full Friday, with a few vacant spaces near the rear.
The school, which has an enrollment of 1,700 students, has nearly 500 parking spaces, but about 100 are reserved for faculty.
Many students at the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology, a regional school with an enrollment of 200 on the Patrick Henry campus, also use the parking lot.
For the first violation of the ban on street parking, a student must have a conference with a school administrator and the parent is notified. If the student is caught parking off campus a second time, the parent must attend a conference with the administrator.
The student is given in-school suspension for a third violation and out-of-school suspension for a fourth offense.
Lee said the school's security personnel are closely monitoring the parking to ensure that no students park on the streets.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said the ban on off-campus parking will be strictly enforced because the schools want to end the residents' complaints about the students.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Patrick Henry's parking lot nearsby CNBcapacity Friday morning. color.