Want parking? Arrive early.

With school back in session, expect parking at South Side High School to be even more of a challenge than usual.

Because construction equipment and vehicles are now taking up space in the school’s parking lot because of lead contamination in the original staging area, there are 22 fewer parking spots for high school seniors, reducing the total to just 28.

The construction is part of the work approved in the recently passed bond referendum. The district is redoing the field at South Side with synthetic turf and putting down a new track. Once that is complete (by the end of the month, district officials hope), work will begin on a two-story building extension adjacent to the field, which is expected to be completed next year.

Originally, the construction equipment and trailers, as well as the construction workers’ cars, were supposed to be parked on the school’s far back field, but testing of the soil there uncovered lead contamination, so the field couldn’t be used.

“Normally there are about 50 [student parking spots],” said Superintendent Dr. William Johnson. “So we’re down 22 spots. And that’s only temporary.”

After the lead contamination was discovered, the district closed off the back field and began further testing. Of more than 200 soil samples taken by the district’s testing company, only 12 showed signs of lead contamination, and all of those were taken one to three feet below the surface. Johnson said at a Board of Education meeting on Aug. 27 that the testing company was likely to recommend to the state Department of Environmental Conservation that the field be left as is.

If the DEC agrees with the testing company’s recommendation, the construction company will be able to move all of its equipment to the back field and reopen the parking lot to students.

“It looks to me like that’s probably going to happen sometime in October,” Johnson said.

Any senior student with a valid driver’s license can apply to the school for a parking permit. There is no cap to the number of permits the school will give out. Parking spots for students are taken on a first-come, first-served basis each day.