Illegal parking and speeding endanger Brookside students

Dear Editor,

At this time, I need the town and school to work in collaboration to address our community and school family’s concerns.

At the recent Town Board meeting, it was announced that March would be recognized as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in Yorktown. Now that April is here — dedicated to Autism Awareness — this is a particularly fitting and timely topic to address. As a Yorktown SEPTA board member, a resident for over three decades and a YHS graduate, I am deeply passionate about these concerns and committed to helping resolve them, as they are shared by many in our community — not just myself.

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM) was established in 1987 to foster inclusion, highlight the contributions of people with developmental disabilities and remove barriers to community living.

I’d like to share the ongoing dilemmas of the parking configuration and safety hazards at Brookside Elementary School on Broad Street.

I raised this concern last spring and worked with Town Supervisor Ed Lachterman, Police Chief Robert Noble and Superintendent Dr. Ron Hattar to realign the handicapped parking spaces, creating more room for families to safely and smoothly navigate between their vehicles and the curb. These have been the only two handicapped spaces for decades. With the increasing number of students with special needs, the growth of families moving into the Underhill Farms development, and the many parents and grandparents who support families like mine, these parking spaces are essential.

I would like our community to understand how serious and disruptive it is when handicap parking spaces at the school are used illegally or treated as temporary loading zones. When vehicles block these spaces — or park in a way that obstructs oncoming traffic — it creates dangerously poor, sometimes zero visibility for those of us trying to safely exit. Combined with cars speeding through a clearly marked 15 mph school zone — despite the posted limits, which too often go ignored — these choices create an environment that is not just frustrating, but genuinely unsafe and high risk for our children. It jeopardizes my child’s safety and the safety of all families.

As a parent of a child with autism who faces communication and behavioral challenges, even simple transitions like getting from the car into the school can be overwhelming. "If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism."

The designated handicap spaces are not a convenience — they are essential in helping her navigate these moments more smoothly, reducing stress, meltdowns, and dysregulation so she can arrive ready to learn. Misusing these spaces is not only illegal; it is deeply disrespectful to families who rely on them.

By the time we arrive to drop-off at Brookside, we have already experienced what it feels like an entire day. That’s an ongoing expression many members of my special needs community and I have.

As a town and school community, it is our shared obligation to keep our children safe and to actively protect them from harm — especially in school zones where their vulnerability is highest. I am making the time to address and help resolve these ongoing issues, and I am urging the town to enforce meaningful consequences for violations while also moving forward with solutions such as increased signage, supervision just like all of the other schools at drop off/pick up, a formal traffic study and the installation of a speed hump in the vicinity of the handicapped parking side.

Additionally, there is a clear and ongoing need for increased parking at Brookside School, particularly in both the front and back areas, as well as additional handicapped spaces in the rear to ensure safe and accessible access for all families and staff.

I’ve witnessed the speeding and abuse of parking in the "No Parking" area, blocking the accessibility ramp for more than a year now. I ask our community to be more mindful: please respect handicap parking, avoid blocking visibility, and strictly observe school zone speed limits — especially during arrival and dismissal times — because children can act unpredictably even while closely supervised, and their safety depends on all of us making wiser choices.

I am very passionate about these concerns because parenting an autistic child means I am her voice. I am her advocate in every setting, every day. I am the one ensuring she is safe, supported and able to access her education with dignity. Every single day is unpredictable and a reminder that this life depends on you.

Thank you so much.

-Rossana Federico, member of the Yorktown SEPTA board