Parking Update

Dear Beaver Community,

We are writing to share more recent information on parking at Beaver. As you know, we conducted several different pilots over the course of last year to begin exploring solutions to a very real-world problem our campus is facing—a finite amount of on-site parking. This is especially evident on days when we have events on campus—like parent/caregiver conferences and admission events—as well as in the spring as more students have gotten their licenses.

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, we want you to know what to expect in the fall and what to be prepared for as the year progresses.

TWO POTENTIAL ROADBLOCKS & DETOURS (puns intended) TO THE BVR PARKING PLAN

Brookline parking laws allow for parking along Woodland Road for 2 hours maximum; however, the Brookline Police Department has a solid history of granting us latitude on the 2-hour restriction by not ticketing cars parked along the right side of the street (the campus side of Woodland) during the school day.

Members of our community sometimes park illegally (to the left of the school's exit) or on the opposite side of the street, resulting in neighbors complaining and a "warning" phone call from the Police Department.

If our community members continue to park to the left of the school's exit or on the opposite side of the street this year, Brookline Police will begin ticketing cars that are illegally parked, and they also may elect to enforce all parking regulations (aka ticketing all cars that have been parked longer than two hours on any street in Brookline).

We will continue to advocate for our community to avoid a change in the parking regulations on Woodland Road AND we need our community's support in following the parking rules. (If the parking lot is full, take a right out of the parking lot and park on the right side of Woodland!)

Throughout last year, we received mixed messages from the town about the exact plans for a traffic light at the intersection of Hammond and Woodland and a new continuous sidewalk along Woodland Road. It is unclear even if these two changes happen how they will affect our community parking (or when they might happen).

We are in constant communication with the town, and doing everything we can to advocate for all our drivers. That said, certain things are out of our control so we are also focusing on building the best possible alternative parking plan in the event of temporary construction or permanent regulation changes.

If we need to move to an alternative parking plan, it will affect student drivers in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades; on-campus parking for faculty, staff, and seniors will be prioritized.

Some things that we will use to inform alternative parking plans in the future:

While some things are out of our control when it comes to our parking situation, there are things we can do as a community:

Parking is a real-world problem experienced by all organizations that border urban areas. The best solutions will result from collaboration that includes the school administration, student drivers, and families.

Thank you for your continued support!