So there I was, just pulling up to my daughter’s school and parking in the same area I’ve been parking ever since 2020 when they were in the first grade. I had a feeling today was going to be different after I saw this lady walking toward another parent’s vehicle.
Well, today was just like any other day, I arrive at the school around 2:30ish, like always, if you want a good parking spot, and wait in for an hour for my daughters to get out of school. I noticed this lady walking toward another parent’s vehicle, they’ve been parking in the exact same spot for the past two years. She walked toward their vehicle and was there for a few minutes. She turned around and started walking toward my vehicle, I knew something was up. She approached my vehicle and said “hello”, I asked her right up front, “what’s the problem?”. She had told me that there we problems with us parking there, that her staff would get nervous looking out the window when they saw us out there so early. I told her that we have been parking in the same area for years waiting on our children. She then told me that she recognized my vehicle, but after today, we may not be allowed to park there anymore. Her excuse was the lady with the handicapped child, she drove this BIG ass van, and had a hard time parking. I told her that the lady always parked in the first spot all the time. She then told me that the day before, that morning, the area was full and the lady had nowhere to park. Needless to say that the area is not designed for handicapped parking, it is a dirt road off to the side of the school. She also said that we were not actually the problem, but the people who parked alongside the fence were the ones who caused the problems. I was shocked and a little upset, the part that stuck in my head was that we scared her staff. Where was she going with that statement, needless to say, we are BLACK. I then told her that one of the people who also parks there is a grandparent who gets out of his vehicle every day to say “hello” to his granddaughter.
I then asked her if the principal was going to send an official email to notify the parents about the parking. She then told me that she would let the assistant principal know to put it out. I then asked her if we could park on the other side of the building, she said “no” that they tried and the school told them they could not park there. She asked my name and told me that she would let the assistant principal know I asked that question and he could get with me.
I was heated, so I decided to email the principal and the vice principal to let them know what was going on just in case the lady tried to change the story. Needless to say, I sent a copy of the email to the district school CEO’s assistant. The assistant principal contacted me immediately. He apologized for what happened and asked what could be done. I told him that the issue was not the parking, it has escalated to something bigger when she said we were scaring her staff, I asked him what did she mean by that statement. He asked what can they do and I recommended quarterly equal opportunity training for the staff.
The bottom line is this, the parking was not an issue, the issue was the comment she made. We have been parking there for a long time, not only are we waiting on our children but we are extra eyes for the school.
#veteran #school #hiddenracism #stopthemadness #parents
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