Chronicles of a Clarkstown Parking Lot

Over the summer, North reconstructed their parking lot, creating a campus-like feel and elevating Clarkstown North High School’s appearance.  This makeover would not have been possible without the Clarkstown Superintendent, Dr. Baiocco, and the North Principal, Ms. Reim.  After sitting down with these leading figures in innovation, it is clear that they had a lot to say.

Q: Were there any difficulties in the process of building the parking lot?

Baiocco: We started the project the week after school ended.  It’s always difficult because people say “Oh well you have two months to work on school,” when in reality you only have six weeks so there is a very tight timeline.  Because the parking lot is such an integral part of the building it became very pressing in terms of getting done within that timeline.  That being said, we were about a half a week into construction and I got a phone call that we had discovered a tank that was buried underground right outside of the front entrance by the old island.  And that tank was approximately 35 feet in length.  So we had to have the tank tested because we needed to make sure that whatever liquid was inside that it was not oil.  So those were our initial 

challenges.  We weren’t short of any challenges on this project.

Reim: And you know, there’s the ever changing challenges.  Your contractors are not school officials so I’m really thankful that Dr. Baiocco and Mr. Lenave were around a lot over the summer because the contractors had one idea and from the educational perspective, they were able to say this might work better for schools. So, there is always that give and take in that shuffling of what is planned actually comes to fruition.

Q: Did you feel a lot of pressure, especially since you were working on Festa, too?

Baiocco: A transformational and structural change will make you encounter problems you did not think about.  So Festa, we ended up running into issues with the support columns on the front of the building on A and D-Wing.  What we found were those I-beams eroded at the bottoms and needed to be reinforced.  So some of the contractors at North had to go to Festa to deal with those issues and it slowed things down at both locations.

Q: What was the most needed change to the parking lot?

Baiocco: I think if I were to prioritize the need for the North parking lot project it was really the traffic flow for safety.  That being said, I think everything--it was an all encompassing project. We needed better spaces, more clearly established spaces, better usage of the North area of the lot.  All of those things became factors but the primary was the safety and traffic flow.

Reim: And of course the added benefit of the parking lot is you drive in and you’re like, “Wow, I go to school here”.  We’re talking about beautifying the front and really making it a statement piece to get a feeling of North pride and that the people that live here care.  We’re gonna talk about student usage with classes going out there, adding areas for outdoor lunch.  So really making it part of who we are and how we use our space.  

Q: Is there anything you are still planning to change?

Baiocco: There are some additions that we included one being a new LED Electronic sign for the front of the entrance.  The difference with the North campus is that it is very front-facing.  It is one of the first things you see so beautifying the front entrance is really important to us and reflecting the Clarkstown pride.  The guard booth has not come in yet so we have a temporary one right now.  Some of the learning aspects were add-ons.  For our walkers, what would happen is that they are crossing in front of the guard shack and as a result, it has created a safety concern.  So Ms. Reim immediately notified us of this and we came over and looked at and we are looking at alternatives to make a safer pass for students to traverse the front entrance.

Reim: Currently we’re routing people up through athletics but that is the safest path that doesn’t involve cutting across the main road.  I mean the other piece is working with the PTSA and Student Council on beautification.  Planting more trees and making a very concrete project homey.  

Baiocco: To your point, we made some changes through the project.  The best project is once you live in it, you begin to understand the changes you want made.  When it was progressing, we started to realize, it was a lot of concrete.  So the front circle where the flagpole is, the original benches there were going to be made out of concrete but we chose to have them as building blocks and then limestone on the top to create contrast.  It was things like that that we made adaptations here and there.  As Ms. Reim said, we’re ramifying the entrance and putting up banners on the new lights to make certain elements pop. 

Q: Do you have any future plans, besides the parking lot? 

Baiocco: The project involved lighting to the athletic facilities and by The Huddle to be properly illuminated.  Now that the project is complete, we are starting to look at “Are there other areas we can expand upon?”  Everything has been very expensive so we have to balance costs but we are looking at the areas by the Mansion and Annex entrances, possibly doing paving over there.  Nothing to the extent of what we did to the main parking lot but the buses go on those routes.  So those are things we are expanding upon.  We are also getting new backstops as part of the project.  Because baseball is not coming until late-winter early-spring, we have some time to start purchasing those.  You just reminded me of the dreaded and not usable basketball courts.  So those are all going to be redone and in making sure that now we have usable outside courts for our students especially in their free time.  And then the other thing is it is all about communication and the more we have, the better.  So one of the things that came up in discussion at the very onset of the project was that the handball courts were not used by anybody.  So I was speaking to the varsity softball coach and he had said “It would be really nice if we had a practice area for the softball team to warm up and things of that sort”.  So we will be transitioning that area to a practice area.  Oh, and the lockers are brand new and with fresh paint in the locker rooms.  A great space for people to get pumped up in a cool space before games.

Final Remarks:

Reim: The other thing I wanted to add is that this has been a true partnership.  We saw the traffic flow, we had people from central administration here and police here all watching and making sure that what the project was designed for is happening.  I don’t know if your friends have told you that at 7:15 they open the bus lane to regular cars in order to alleviate traffic.  Everyone has eyes on it and is looking at not only safety but also getting people in and out quickly.  So that partnership has been really great.

With innovation and collaboration, it is possible to get big things done. Thanks to the hard work of the administration, students are more proud of their school environment than ever and the new parking lot ensures a much greater degree of safety for all.