APRIL 15, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
GATE,
continued from Page A1
April 4 Keizer City Council
meeting.
“The main issue is parking,”
Anderson said. “Another issue
is (parents) are dropping off all
of the students. At 6:55 a.m. the
noise starts. Trash gets spilled
out of vehicles. On top of
that, speeders go up and down
Newberg Drive.”
Anderson also is bitter about
a gate on the opposite side of
the school at Sandy Drive
being closed at the start of last
school year.
“When I talked with
vice principal (Jay) Crystal,
I asked him if it's the
school's
responsibility
to
provide parking and he said
no,” Anderson said. “That
Celt basketball alums: Sign
up to compete in all-ages
basketball tournament
The McNary High School
boys basketball team will be
hosting an Alumni Tourna-
ment May 14 and 15 for all
former Celtic varsity basketball
players.
“The program would like to
bring back and honor all for-
mer players and coaches for an
awesome weekend of basket-
ball,” said Ryan Kirch, McNary
boys basketball head coach.
Kirch is hoping to draw in
players from as far back as the
1970s and 1980s to play in the
tourney.
If you are interested in play-
ing, please contact the program
at mcnaryalumni@gmail.com
for more information.
responsibility has been pushed
onto this neighborhood. It
should be on the parents or
the students themselves. It's not
right. They locked the gate at
Sandy, then ours is not locked.
We get the (parking) overrun.
It's just not fair.”
Jespersen acknowledges the
parking woes on the west side
of the school are related to the
gate on the east side of the
school being closed in the fall
of 2014.
“That has slowly made an
impact on the opposite side
of our campus,” Jespersen said.
“With the Sandy gate, parents
were able to drive up and drop
off students. Anytime you close
off an area, that will impact
another area. Our enrollment
is the same, so it's not a spike
of drivers. There is now more
parking in the neighborhood
we're referring to.”
Jespersen, who took over
as MHS principal partway
through the 2014-15 school
year, said school offi cials sell as
many parking passes as there
are parking spaces.
“We want kids to be parking
in our lot,” he said. “That's good
for the kids and that's good for
the community. The neighbors
would rather have them park
in our lot, which I get. We
have more kids that drive than
we have parking spots for. For
students that don't get a parking
pass, they still drive and park in
the adjacent neighborhood.”
Wenning said a key
difference
between
now
and the Sandy Drive issues
two years ago is the current
problem is only about parking,
while loitering issues were the
main thing on Sandy. Wenning
also pointed out the problem
to any solution.
“This is
getting a little
bit crazy.”
— Charles Anderson
“There are lots of options,
but there won't be one that
appeases everyone,” Wenning
said.
Wenning
said
school
offi cials are also wary of
making it harder for students
– particularly those already on
the verge of not going anyway
– to make it to MHS.
“From the school point
of view, they don't want any
impediment to kids coming to
school,” Wenning said. “There
is a portion of the student
population that will use that as
an excuse. If that happens, now
you have truancy issues.”
Jespersen confi rmed making
it easier for students to get to
school – whether by driving
or by walking – is a big factor.
There are 330 parking spots on
the MHS campus for students.
“There are a number
of
students
from
that
neighborhood that simply
walk to school,” Jespersen said.
“They need that gate. If we
close that gate, some of those
kids would have to walk a
mile or so further. We want to
make it easy for kids to get to
school. We don't want to put
up any unnecessary barriers.
If students live within a mile
of school, they don't have the
school bus.”
While Anderson encouraged
neighbors to sign a petition to
get the gate closed, Jespersen
pointed to the severity of
conditions that led to the gate
at Sandy being closed.
“Sandy was closed because
of loitering, not parking,” he
said. “There were issues there
that caused not only McNary
High School to agree with
(the neighbors) but also the
city council, the Keizer Police
Department and the Salem-
Keizer School District. Now
the issue is based on parking. We
are sympathetic to neighbors
that don't want students
parking in their neighborhood.
If kids are parking illegally like
blocking driveway access or
hydrants, they should be cited
for that.”
Jespersen said too many
parking passes were sold last
year, so the policy was revised
for this school year. Seniors
and juniors get fi rst dibs, with
any eligible sophomores being
able to purchase passes that are
remaining.
“The minimum requirement
for these (juniors and seniors)
is a 2.00 GPA and 90 percent
attendance,” Jespersen said.
“If there are additional passes
after we have sold passes to all
eligible upperclassmen, then
sophomores are eligible to
purchase a parking pass. They
must have a 3.00 GPA and 92
percent attendance.”
Behavior is also a criteria.
Jespersen said the policy was
chosen for a simple reason.
“We are trying to incentivize
kids for doing the right thing,”
he said.
Anderson
noted
he
unsuccessfully tried in 2007
to get an issue with speeding
cars on Newberg addressed
and hasn't felt much more help
from authorities with this issue.
He cited an instance last week
where he pointed out several
student parking infractions to a
KPD offi cer.
“There are four violations,
and the cop is just sitting
there,” Anderson said. “They
are clearly in violation. I don't
want to see them give kids a
bunch of tickets, I just want
them to shut the gate like they
did on Sandy. This is getting a
little bit crazy.”
Anderson, who called last
crossword
week's meeting with Jespersen
“a waste of time,” noted a
similar complaint about a van
being parked in front of a
hydrant was not addressed. He
wants other options explored,
such as bus passes for students
who have to use a parking lot
not on school grounds. He also
noted Loren's Sanitation trash
trucks have problems picking
up trash when so many student
vehicles are parked on either
side of the roads.
“We want to
make it easy
for kids to get
to school. We
don’t want to
put up any
unnecessary
barriers.”
— Erik Jespersen
To Jespersen, there's not
much school offi cials can do.
“In the fi nal analysis, we're
at a standstill for right now,”
he said. “My responsibility
is to make sure kids have a
way to get to school safely
and on time. Mr. Anderson's
perspective is he doesn't want
cars in his neighborhood. We
only have a certain number
of spots. Kids drive to school.
They access that gate when
coming to school and when
going home. We can't shut kids
out from coming to school.”
At the same time, Jespersen
wants to turn the issue into
a learning experience for
students.
“I have talked to our
leadership class about it, about
what are some proactive things
we can do to reach out to
neighbors,” he said. “What's
important to me is we do
greatly value our neighbors in
Keizer. McNary is a community
school. We're very intent on
having great relationships with
our neighbors and community.
We don't want to create an
adversarial relationship with
our friends on Newberg
Drive.”