Alleged New Entrance is a Bust

Alleged construction of a new entrance to improve traffic flow inside and outside the TCS will not happen regardless of the immense pressure put by parents and students.

The new entrance will not be executed due to lack of money and the entrance not having a direct financial gain. Parents have been complaining a lot about the traffic there is both in the morning and in the afternoon, but as a big construction is already underway, a lot of funds would have to be raised and there wouldn’t be a direct income coming from a new entrance.

“Until now we have 15.550 million pesos, the reserve is of 10.000 million meaning that 5.550 [million pesos] would remain but we will construct and 1.238 [million pesos] will be left over.” Elen Yepes, financial and administrative manager, said.

The school currently has 15.550 million pesos, 10.000 million pesos are saved in a reserve for any type of emergency and for safety, leaving the school with 5.550 million pesos to spend or invest. The near to come new administration building, will cost 4.312 million pesos leaving the school with 1.238 million pesos left for spending in any further constructions or investments. Although this is a lot of money to spend there still isn’t enough to construct a new entrance.

“This [current] lot cost 700 million [pesos] 20 years ago and it’s 21 acres, those lots that are small they are selling for 12.000 million pesos;I tell you that in those lots fit one thing of 300 square meters” Yepes said.

Currently there are 2 lots on sale that would allow the building of the new entrance, but they cost over 12.000 million pesos and provide a new space of about 300 square meters, a gargantuan amount compared to the 21 acres that cost the school about 700 million pesos 20 years ago. To give a sense of context 1 acre is 10000 square meters. Although the school’s original plans included a second entrance new rules placed by the government have impeded this decision and jeopardized the school’s original plans.

“This right here is a forest that has a water spring, the spring with the new rules[placed by government], requires for there to be a bigger seclusion. What is a seclusion, is that you can’t construct close to the mouth of the spring but you have to leave a bigger amount of meters of space” Yepes said.

These new rules forces the school to have to buy new land and lots to be able to construct a new entrance. This leads to the school having to find new ways apart from building a new entrance to solve the recurring problem of slow traffic flow both before and after school.

“Yes there is a huge pressure for the entrance but if we work on a topic of ideology, that people learn to use the parking lot correctly, to do carpooling, maybe use more the buses; We have made changes that if people are disciplined, at the moment we don’t need another entrance” Yepes said.

One of the changes made is that teachers have a new campaign, that if they arrive before 7:20 in the morning they can park below but if they arrive later than that time they must park above no matter if they work in elementary. The reasoning behind this is that parents start to arrive at this time, and while a teacher reverses into a parking spot, it stops the whole line creating heavy traffic. The effect of this new policy has already be seen by both parents, students and teachers.

“I think it’s a great idea and a great new thing that the school has incorporated because it has drastically reduced the amount of traffic in the entrance in the school,” Agustin Jaramillo, a TCSJunior stated his opinion.

Students are starting to notice that the line that forms outside school has greatly reduced and they are starting to arrive earlier than ever. This policy is having great positive effect on TCS students and parents, providing them to arrive early and don’t have to sit through traffic half an hour.

“It would be amazing to have a very generous space, but the school’s priority is the academic and education” said Yepes.