‘Where do we park?’ Lawrence teachers claim they’re spending thousands on parking

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Some Lawrence teachers say the cost of simply showing up to work is adding up.

Educators at Henry Oliver say they are spending more than $1,000 each school year to park near the school. Educators told Boston 25 they’re one of the only two schools in the entire district without dedicated parking spaces.

“You tell me, where do we park?” Melissa Lopez told Boston 25 News.

“We are paying anywhere between $8 to $10 a day to park, which adds up to about $50 to $60 a week, which is about $1,600 for the school year,” Sarah Dobry told Boston 25 News.

Teachers say the parking issue is not new. Last year, educators started a petition raising concerns about parking and said they experienced a brief period of relief before the problem returned.

“This year we started off thinking that it was going to be the same as last year, but here we are again getting tickets,” Lopez said.

Lawrence Public Schools told Boston 25 News in a statement that parking is a common challenge in densely populated urban centers and “can certainly be frustrating for all involved.”

The district said it has explored possible solutions with the City of Lawrence and remains open to continuing those conversations.

Teachers say they have also proposed potential solutions, like a piece of paper that would show that their vehicles belong to school employees.

“We offered the idea of a simple piece of paper that we could put on our dashboard that says, ‘Hi, we work at the Oliver School. Please let us park here. We work here,’” Gabriela Scarpelli told Boston 25 News.

City officials weren’t available at Lawrence City Hall on Wednesday to speak with Boston 25. The Lawrence School Committee also told Boston 25 News it is working with city officials to find a solution.

“Teachers are considering looking for jobs at other districts where the teachers are given parking at this point,” one teacher said. “It would be a real shame to lose amazing teachers that we have just because we can’t park here,” said Bailey McVey.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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