row in parking lot with head teacher! (longish)

[sansouci]

There is next to no parking by dd's school. Everyone complains but for the moment, nothing has actually been done about it, except for the police coming round & taking photos of pick-up & drop-off times. The yummy-mummies make it even worse with SUVs but anyway.

Yesterday when I went to pick up dd from school, I had to double park. I left my warning lights flashing to show that I was coming back soon. Unfortunately, dd didn't come to the car easily & then I got chatting with another mummy, as you do, forgetting completely about my precarious parking place.

On returning to the car, a group of angry women were clustered in front of the school & of course I apologised profusely to the one or two I had blocked.

One woman made a rather bitchy comment as I was charging by & when I saw her heading for her car a few minutes later, I asked her what she felt could be done about the parking. It's not my problem, she replied shortly. We got into an argument, which escalated, as things do on a Friday afternoon. She said, I'm a teacher at this school! to which I retorted, My daughter is a student at this school & if you're part of the staff, you should care about the parking problem! I wasn't rude, but I was very angry with her & she was angry with me.

I eventually roared off, furious and shaking, cursing the woman aloud. Do you know that silly woman? I asked DD. Yes, she said, she's the head teacher. Oh SH*T, I thought, Now I've done it.

How can I face her again? She'll be dd's teacher one day. I think I was right to be cross but I was at fault & certainly on the defensive. What do you think I can do?

(and I'd park legally and get the bus rather than park illegally and be a danger to the children)

you don't have to park illegally at all

you can park somewhere else and walk for 5 minutes

you can cycle

you can take the bus

you don't have a right to park outside your school at all

sheer laziness

grrrrr

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I would be facinated at her 'big fat salery' btw. Most private schools in the UK are linked to state wage levels.

Starting salery for a teacher in the UK (not in London) is about £19,000. And for that you usualy have to have a degree and a teaching qualification.

LMAO at teaching being thought of as giving you a nice 'fat' salery.

And I doubt that you made her care more by being 'furious, shaking and cursing the woman aloud' I know that it wouldn't have helped me, if at the end of my working day, I was expected to try to sort out peoples parking problems! To be blunt, she probably had more pressing things on her mind.

SwedishMum
re your - people have 4WDs for safety and practical reasons -

They are only safer for owners not pedestrians - who are much more likely to end up dead and a RTA statistic

KS, you leave earlier.

I don't know if this applies to ss's school. My two go to a private school and kids go there from all over the county. There are a few who live close enough to walk (and do already IYSWIM), but the majority don't. We couldn't, as we are 3 miles away. When they are older there is a bus.

Obviously even a few less cars would be a good idea, but the overall impact might be minimal.

Sansouci, the only thing that I can add here is that people getting really het up on here about parking as I found out recently when I posted a thread having a rant about parking recently. In short it got heated and I got beligerent and the thread took ages to die, IMO it just best to agree that you are not going to agree with some of the posters.

KS, forcefully and like a military operation

I am lucky enough to have pre school care where my two go. They are in different parts of the school and I can drop them off and (just) get to work for my pre school briefing. I couldn't cope without it tbh. I still have to sprint back to the car though!

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You arrive at school A early - before opening time to get a closer spot or to allow time to walk from the car so you're at the door spot on 8:15. Drive to school B and dump child off via ejector seat as you pass the gates (assuming child B is the eldest, otherwise reverse the procedure).

I am very, very impressed with the sound of your cone, ks. How are you BTW?

Cod, that will work for some people however, getting up earlier doesnt help if the school wont take the children before opening time and you have another school / nursery to get to. I drop dd off by car even though we can see our roof from the school, however I have to take ds to preschool which is 2 miles away and starts 15 min later. there is not time to walk back ( there is no direct route between home and school without jumping over someones fence and walking through their garden) to the house with a two year old and a one year old and get the car to take him. I do however not part across drives or park illegally on double yellow lines.

ks.....and doesn't one of the children need to be digging a hole in the road 2m by 3m that another child, half his size is filling back in???

ks, you'd be delighted to know that I refused to leave my car overhanging someone's drive by a measly foot last week even though it was a spot right outside the school gates. I just can't believe that people could be so inconsiderate to atually park over a driveway. Pulling in to drop off is Ok but parking?!