Thanks for reporting! During the DPW hearing regarding parking on Walnut St last Spring, Phillip Peterson (of DPW) told us he had made multiple visits during peak school drop off times & never witnessed an issue, so please keep it up.
These consistent peaks of high volume illegal parking around the school make it difficult for residents to safely navigate our streets.
The school has tried to encourage parents to use the drop off area in the little lot on the Spring St side, but they have no control beyond these communications. It's clear that far more parents are choosing individual drop offs (instead of walking, biking, or bussing to school) than the school/street design is able to accommodate.

I've been reporting this, and the illegal parking on Walnut, since the beginning of the school year and have yet to see enforcement during drop off. Walnut has always been a problem, but this new trend of parking on Spring directly across from the school drop off area is extra problematic since it limits sight lines and backs up traffic when the drop off lane is full. With zero enforcement, parents now assume this area is ok. It started with 1-2 cars and now there are routinely 3-4 on this stretch. Parking enforcement needs to put this on their schedule for 8-8:10am weekday mornings and ticket violations until people stop.

Ok so just from the other perspective. IAA was made a magnet school by the citizens of this city. This has been good for the school and for the neighborhood. But this means that parents have to cross town with cars and cannot walk all the kids to school. There is not enough parking. Why can't everyone relax a little at pick up and drop off times (neighbors and parking enforcement) so that parents can get their kids off to school without such hassle. It's really frustrating. I have reported the lack of parking to the city but my understanding is that basically, it's citizen opposing citizen at this point as a process for more parking was almost passed last year but was blocked by residents in the area. I have lived in a college area and near the hospital in my tenure as a citizen of this city so I do understand and am empathetic to the neighbors BUT holy cow. These are not cars that are camped out all day, nor are they blocking anyone's driveway. What can be done to make this easier on parents? I am not a bad person nor a bad citizen but I have gotten 3 tickets in the last 6 months because my car was in a spot it should not have been for 5-10 minutes during a pickup or drop off and I cannot afford $75 a wack. We are not rich. I love this school but the parking is insane and parking 4+ blocks away means that I can fit a lot less hours of work into my day because I have to leave time for driving, driving around to find parking, parking, walking etc. It does add up. 15 -20 minutes extra because of parking every darn day, twice a day is like 2 hours of work every week. I have to get to 40 hours. I have such a struggle to make all the pieces work together. I am not alone. Please have mercy and be part of a solution for this neighborhood to function better rather than just ticketing parents and complaining about people illegally parking. This is happening BECAUSE THERE IS A PROBLEM with enough parking for this school. AND PS Burlington Public Works...what is happening with my appeal to add parking? I have not heard anything all summer and fall.

I drove to school today & used the drop off lane. I drove to school yesterday and needed to stay for a meeting, so I planned to get there a bit early so I could find a spot nearby. The problem isn't lack of parking, it is lack of planning and a sense of entitlement from parents who feel it is totally ok for them to park illegally because it is convenient for them at the expense of safety for everybody else.

As a nearby resident I see that the parking on this stretch of Spring St. is both drop-off and residents. Some cars are parked here when I walk my dog past the school at 6:00 a.m. The problem then grows around drop-off time when I pass by on my way to work. Parking in the neighborhood is tight at times, but it is not a critical problem. Parking can be found in the surrounding area if a minute or two are budgeted, usually within a block and a half of the school.

I totally get the drop off lane - I haven't been able to use it for last year and this year as I have a prek student. The young ones still get walked to the door through about grade 1. And, please, watch out when you are throwing around entitled parent stuff. That's not productive. Life is insane and this could and should be a problem that gets solved and not just ignored and ticketed. I will try again to drive around the blocks looking but it often results in the same scenario...only illegal spots left. As this person commented...it's not just a car here or there, it's the whole block being used. There's a reason for that. How can it be adjusted so it's both safe and easier on parents? Let's solve the problem.

and bikerjill - there is a reason there are more cars. more and more kids at IAA over the last decade are from far outside the neighborhood. The parking has not improved to accommodate the magnet school change and what is naturally changing because of that.

Spring St. has never been a problem until this year. Why? I don't know, but it really complicates things for everybody when the drop off loop backs up out into the street and cars in both directions can't safely pass each other due to illegally parked cars on Spring. Also agreed that it is a combination of parents and residents, who all now see this area as OK since there has been zero enforcement since the start of the school year. Re my entitled parents comment, how else would I describe people who feel like the rules don't or shouldn't apply to them? The definitely of entitlement is "believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment" which is exactly what you're describing.
This particular issue could be solved if people just stopped parking in an area that is clearly marked as "no parking"

We have been at IAA for 6 years now and drive across town as biking does not work, we tried, and the neighborhood special buses did not feel like a safe option, it was chock full of high school students with just my young daughter and she went first to BHS and then would have gone on to IAA, alone with the driver, and the driver changes randomly, so tried that too. The parking issues have been really bad for the last two years. The first few it wasn't that bad and we could reliably find parking within a few blocks from school. Now it's a nightmare. I'm saying that residents and parents at IAA and the city need to address the problem and that cannot just be done with ticketing. There is not enough legal, temporary parking for drop off and pickup times. It recently occurred to me that maybe some lines on the road where parking is legal would help. The signs are not always clear. One of my tickets was at a time that I thought I had a legal spot and I got a ticket.

I don't have kids in school anymore but it seems that if there is an insufficient number of parking spaces (there is) and this is a magnet school (which it is) and the magnet school has been beneficial for the community (which it has), then some flexibility on early morning parking regs should be what we have and enforce to. If there is a safety issue, then perhaps some parking attendants/crossing-type guards should be hired by the BSD so no one gets hurt.

As far as entitled goes...by definition then I am entitled in this situation. That does not change the fact that there is a problem and this solution, which I honestly try not to do because I can't afford it and I know it's not legal, is not the best solution but sometimes how things are done, what is legal and not legal, need to change and they only change when it sucks bad enough for all parties. It should not be this insane to drop my kids at school. It's not working and it hasn't been for years. I know parents have been asking for help, I have been asking too. I think we do the best we can every day and this is broken and frustrating and it's frustrating every day. So if this is so painful for parents and it's equally painful for residents then maybe it's time to come back to the table and deal with the problem and rather than vote down parking adjustments next time (and I don't know the details so maybe they were horrible for residents I don't know) there could be some compromise to help during pick up and drop off times.

There is already a crossing guard at the Archibald/Spring intersection, and a staff person assigned to morning duty on the drop off lane. On street parking violations (like this) are the responsibility of BPD, thus the reason I reported this in the first place.
We can debate this all day, but parking on both sides of this block of Spring St is still illegal & should be ticketed until people stop doing it. If people want to find other solutions and/or have parking ordinances changed, I'd suggest contacting the DPW commission. In the meantime, people need to find a safe/legal place to park.

It has been reported by many parents. The problem then lies in DPW not doing anything or anything with any speed. I went into their office last spring and have sent a few followup emails and so far nothing. Well they opted me into this forum in June or so where I can see just how many times IAA parents get reported for ticketing. And I understand that their last attempt ended in residents vetoing what was really close to a finished process which would have resulted in some relief to this situation.

"Zero tolerance" is not a good solution to a persistent problem where there are legitimate concerns on the several sides of the issue. Getting the regs changed is part of the solution and it is not clear if you would support such a change. A community building solution is so much better than a punitive one in cases like this. The single guards on Spring/Elmwood and Archibald/Walnut could not be enough because they are focused on crossing kids. Nor is a single drop off lane person on Archibald when the problem is also on Walnut. I've walked, driven and biked past the school during the drop off times at school for the 34 years I've lived in the neighborhood and while it is tight, it is manageable. Perhaps the PTO, if there is one, could bring people together with BSD, BPD & DPW staff to work out changes that would make the situation safer while addressing the temporary parking needs of parents.

Gene, parking on this block of Spring has never been allowed, not even temporarily during school drop off. School employees who deal with crosswalks and the drop off loop are not (and can not be) responsible for monitoring illegal on street parking. Parking on Walnut behind the school has always been an issue, and if people are going to consistently park illegally they might as well do it there so they're not creating access issues for the only legal drop off area. Zero tolerance is the only solution to this particular problem & BPD needs to step up enforcement because it is getting worse as more parents realize they can get away with it.

4 cars again this morning. 2 were gone right after drop off, 2 were still there over 30 minutes later (which seems to indicate they are folks from the neighborhood, not parents). Can we please get an update from the parking manager?

acknowledged

no vehicles illegally parked

At a minimum, can we at least get DPW to add a "no parking this side of street" sign underneath the speed limit sign near the northwest corner of the street? I've spoken to some parents who believe parking is allowed on this block because there isn't a no parking sign on the west side until after the stop sign at Archibald.

constantly checking the area the DPW has been notified