The signs reading “Please No School Parking” throughout Decatur’s Winnona Park neighborhood were posted by Winnona Park Elementary Principal Greg Wiseman, not by frustrated residents as some believe.
It’s Wiseman’s attempt to organize efficient drop-off and pick-up traffic at the overcrowded school which has only 27 official parking spaces total, not even enough for faculty and staff.
Parking and traffic manipulation has always been tricky at the school, even when it had fewer than 200 students in the early 2000s. The school and the surrounding neighborhood grid were built in the 1920s when automobiles were few and streets were narrow.
But this year Winnona has a record 430 students. The building capacity, counting two additions built in the last 15 years, is 293, and four modular units increase that by 84. So even with trailers the school is 53 over capacity.
When school lets out Wiseman, now in his 11th year as principal, turns into a traffic cop with walkie-talkie. He first erected the signs last year but they were soon stolen. This year, however, they’ve endured, and Wiseman says “the balancing act,” of getting children into and out of school has gone much smoother.
About the Author
