December 3, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Midland Park Open parking instituted in high school lot As of Monday, the Midland Park High School student parking lot has moved to an “open parking” system. Spaces are available to students who hold a valid New Jersey driver’s license and vehicle registration on a “first come, first served” basis. School officials said the revised open parking system will now allow more students an opportu- nity to safely park in the MPHS lot and eliminate the issue of numerous spaces remaining vacant during the school day. Up to last week, there were approximately 35 spaces assigned to seniors not being utilized and remaining vacant for the duration of the school day. “We accept that there will be some more accepting of this revised plan than others. However, we do hope every- one appreciates the motivation behind the action—to pro- vide a safe parking space for as many students as possible on MPHS school grounds,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Marie Cirasella and High School Principal Nick Capuano said in a prepared statement. “I’m glad this was resolved just in time for the students to be off the streets before the snow,” commented parent Steve Vander Wiele, who had brought the matter to the attention of the board of education last month. “It was the only way of doing it. Anything else didn’t make sense.” Vander Wiele, whose daughter is a junior, had com- plained that juniors were not allowed to park on campus while as many as 50 spaces were left empty in the school parking lot. Seniors receive assigned spaces as a senior privilege regardless of whether they drive to school. This year 82 such permits have been issued, according to Dr. Cirasella. “I hope the seniors understand that they are helping their fellow classmates by providing a safer environment for them to park. They were there at one time, so they know what it’s all about,” Vander Wiele said. In their statement, Dr. Cirasella and Capuano said sev- eral variables had been considered in making their decision. They said it was critical to develop a plan which would uti- lize all available spaces on a daily basis to allow as many students as possible to safely park on school grounds. Stu- dent birth dates were reviewed to determine how many students among the junior and senior classes would have an opportunity to drive to school for the remainder of the school year. These numbers were factored into the deci- sion-making process. The administrators said a raffle system for juniors had been considered and deemed inequitable. “For example if all seniors were provided a parking space and any remaining spaces raffled to juniors, a cut-off date was necessary due to the limited number of parking spaces available. Therefore, those juniors born after any cut-off date would have been denied an opportunity to be eligible for a parking space, and there still would be vacant parking spaces in the lot during the school year,” the state- ment explained. Under the system in place up to last week, any extra spaces in the lot not assigned to staff or seniors were next offered to the Midland Park Public Education Foundation (MPPEF) to be raffled off as a fundraiser for its Blue Jean Ball. Extra spaces beyond this (for example, last year there were four extra spaces) were raffled off to members of the junior class. The assigned space system was instituted after the parking lot was paved and lined in 2012. Since the time when senior students were assigned park- ing spaces, concerns had been expressed by students and community members with regard to the number of open (continued on page 16)