SOUTHWICK – Students at Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School (STGRHS) will see a change in the parking policy for the next several years.
Principal Pamela Hunter told the School Committee Tuesday she would like to lower the parking fee from $100 per school year to $50 during construction at the school.
“I think it’s a good time to do this,” Hunter said, explaining that once construction begins there will be fewer parking spaces available to students and many may have to park by Powder Mill Middle School.
Hunter said the number of students able to obtain a parking permit would decrease during construction.
“We may give them to seniors first, or just juniors and seniors or first come, first served,” Hunter said. “We are still working that out.”
Superintendent John Barry said with a target start date of Aug. 5, it makes sense to set the policy now.
“One of the first things to be done is the driveway,” said Barry. “The front door of the high school is going to be the door at the student parking lot.”
Barry said many of those existing student spaces would be needed for visitors and handicapped parking. He supported the fee decrease.
“It doesn’t make sense to have what is already considered a high parking fee in place,” he said.
Committee member Darrell Cass asked if space behind the school could be utilized for parking.
“No,” said Hunter, “that will be a construction area.”
Hunter said she wanted to alert parents and students to the change through the next newsletter.
Another discussion related to the school project was how to quickly remove unwanted items from the schools, particularly the high school.
“We are going to have to come up with an expedient process for getting rid of school property. For example, we have a lot of old TVs,” said Barry.
Committee member Jeffrey Houle asked if there was any consideration of working with an auction house, which would inventory all the items and post them for sale online.
Barry said he had not considered it but welcomed information. However, he added that he wants to remove the items quickly and entirely.
“We met with a company today that takes it all and recycles it,” Barry said.
Barry said the committee would be presented with his recommendation in the near future.
