- Feb
13
2013
Let us celebrate a tough decision by Madison High School principal Sharon Knowlton. No, not her decision to leave Madison.
Mrs. Knowlton and assistant principal Bud Postma had six student vehicles towed last week. According to Postma, some students had parked three-deep in the high school lot. Buses and trucks were having trouble navigating around this sloppy parking. More importantly, the bad parkers boxed in one student's car and prevented her from getting to a curricular mentorship program.
Some parents came to whine at Monday's school board meeting about their kids' cars getting towed. It's too drastic, they moaned, and sticking parents with a $100 towing bill isn't going to teach their kids how to park better.
Au contraire, whiners. Parking is a privilege. Instead of using every tax dollar to directly educate our children, we divert some of our tax dollars to cover decent buildable ground with asphalt (asphalt! not sloppy, muddy gravel, but clean, smooth asphalt!) just to spoil your kids and their precious cars. We let the kids park on school grounds so they don't cold walking an extra hundred meters to the door in their shorts and slippers and without hats and mittens and zipped-up coats.
And I guarantee you that if my daughter engages in some thoughtless, neglectful act that hinders another child's education and costs me $100, I won't have any difficulty conveying the lesson to her. Of course, my daughter won't have this specific problem, because she'll riding her bike to school.
Parents, learn to parent. Kids, learn to park. Good call, Knowlton and Postma.
15 Responses to “MHS Tows Sloppily Parked Student Cars — Good Call, Sharon and Bud!”
We don't know the details, but couldn't they have got on the intercom, made an announcement and asked them to move the cars? Maybe they were at the end of their rope, but towing cars seems like a big step when a small one may have been better.
Maybe, John. Bud and Sharon say they've made such announcements in the past. I can easily imagine a situation where you've got six cars piled up in triple parking, flagrant violation of common car sense, a student kept from her assignment, and the administrtion acting fully within its rights to say, "Behaving this irresponsibly with your cars has consequences." Sticking with the announcements just says, "Go ahead, park however you want, and if it causes any problems, we'll just call you and have you move it." In this situation, from what we know, how might the small step have been better?
There's always a last call. Let people know no more excuses. That said you can't believe how fast I've watched kids drive up Lincoln Ave. The last two were 10 feet apart going about 45 mph. I talked to the police dept. cause it was so over the top so who am I to question.
Students were told on several occasions. The intercom has been used for these announcements. Mr. Postma had a sit-down on the first day of school with students and one of the main points of emphasis was parking. Even before the school year started Mr. Postma met with all the fall activities and athletic teams and he talked to them about parking. How many warnings are necessary ?
State traffic law may not apply in school parking lots, but when any peace officer finds a car illegally parked, SDCL 32-30-3 says she or he is under no obligation to find the driver or give a first, second or last warning.
What I've heard is all second hand information, but I believe the district has a written policy on handling these issues and skipped more than a few of their own steps. But this has become the norm for Madison Central schools.. students bringing weapons to school are excused with a slap on the wrist, and your car gets towed without due process, or even the process as defined in their own manual.
Cory, I fail to find the point in your recitation of law, the police were not involved in this matter. School lots are not highways of record, standard traffic laws don't apply.. the only policy in effect on these grounds should be the ones written and ignored by the district.
Another little tidbit from the Madison rumor mill is that only one of the removed vehicles was parked three deep, the others were simply on or over the lines.. I wasn't there, and haven't seen a picture from anyone on any of this.. If I were making the call to have vehicles towed, I would have gotten pictures, probably using the same device I made the call with.. If it were as horrendous as Bud made it sound on the radio, a picture probably would have been worth way more than a thousand words.
Noting state law: I'm making an analogy, Nick. When it comes to operating vehicles properly, we don't expect constant warnings and handholding out in the real world. When kids are operating vehicles, we expect them to act like adults. I'm fine with treating them like adults.
But guess what: according to the MHS Student Handbook, traffic laws do apply:
"All students driving cars or motorcycles to school must obtain a numbered decal from the principal’s office. Only vehicles with this decal may park in the MHS parking lot. All traffic laws shall be obeyed in the parking lot, and the speed limit is 10 miles per hour. Student parking is in the north parking lot only and only in designated areas." [MHS Student Handbook, p. 16]
Now, as for the steps, Nick, you may be right. These steps come from p. 23 of the Student Handbook:
"The discipline for violating parking rules/driving rules is as follows:
1. 1st Violation-Student directed to move vehicle and given 1st violation warning. Student may receive tardy. Parent notified.
2. 2nd Violation-Student directed to move vehicle. Student will receive three hours of detention and parent is notified.
3. 3rd Violation-In School Suspension and loss of access to school parking lots.
4. 4th Violation-Vehicle towed without notice at the owner’s expense.
Students who drive or park irresponsibly will face discipline and could lose access to the school parking lot."
We'll need Bud and Sharon to jump in here and explain whether they gave the towed kids #1, #2, and #2 for previous infractions first. I'd jump right to the bottom line and ban the kids from the lot... although that line seems redundant/inconsistent with the placement of the same language at Step 3.
Now, if it turns out Bud and Sharon violated policy, can we tow their cars?
Ah, but Page 17 of the Student Handbook offers Bud and Sharon this cover from Handbook literalists: "Consequences listed are the minimum. The Administration has the latitude to enforce other reasonable disciplinary action found to be warranted by specific situations."
Next time off with their heads!
Now, John, don't get the French teacher going on the educational value of guillotines in the classroom. ;-)
Is there going to be a knitting class offered with the guillotine demonstration? I'm told the two go together well.
When I went to school there wasn't a school parking lot. Of course 9 times out of 10 the only cars in the area around the school belonged to the teachers. Town kids walked and country kids rode the bus.
When I went to school we had to shovel a path through the snow to the outhouse for the girls with our hands wrapped in burlap. And then the girls had to use the burlap as dainty paper.
There is no child driving court. Driving is an adult privilege. If the brats exercise and partake in the privilege they should expect its consequences. The towing and tickets may be the most worthwhile education these malcontents and any of their whiny parents receive from the nonsense we now call high school.
I found the story enjoyable. Too often we say, "Oh that's ok, just don't do it again." Accountability for your actions can be painful, and in this case somewhat expensive.
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