As the school year goes on, the parking lots fill up. More and more sophomores get a parking pass each day, and every day there’s one less parking spot, but this year is different. The parking situation in the 830 lot has gotten worse compared to previous years and students have resorted to parking on the grass. This is the school’s second year as a 6A school with a parking lot meant for a small 5A population.

It is not fair to the students who have paid for a spot in the 830 lot to have to park on the grass or in other locations on campus and the administration needs to fix it now.

It is not possible to add additional parking at this time, but there are several other ways that the administration can address the lack of parking spaces. The administration barely goes out to the parking lot to check for passes. Students have been able to get by all year without a pass and that is not ok. Staff members have also been parking in the student lot, but there have been many announcements made to tell students that they are not allowed to park in the staff lot. So if people from the 75 lot, the staff lot and the CTE lot are all parking in the 830 lot, then there is nowhere for all the people with 830 lot passes supposed to go. The administration needs to address all the people who should not be in the 830 lot and penalize them if needed.

With just three weeks left, the administration is still giving out parking passes. There are only 290 spots in the 830 lot. There is not enough room for three large classes to be parking in the 830 and CTE lots. When the majority of driving students show up to school, there could be 20 cars parked on the grass. The parking problem first arose in late March and the students that began parking on the grass got booted. There are no empty spots. There is nowhere for these students to go, unless the administration wants them to turn around and go home, they should not be booting the cars that are on the grass. 

The administration has said that people with 830 lot passes are allowed to park in the CTE lot because of all the overflow, but there is not enough room in the CTE lot either. There’s is also a rumor that students will be able to pick a parking spot and paint it next year, but that is not a solution for now. The late arrival students are affected by the parking problems the most. Most students have to get to school at least 20 minutes before class starts and it’s still a struggle to find a spot. Several big trucks also take up two parking spots, making it even more difficult to find a spot. The late arrival students that get to school right before class starts have to resort to the grass, handicap spots or crossed line spots. 

The rules that are set for the parking lot need to be enforced. The administration has not done their job in penalizing and punishing the students who do not follow the rules. If this situation is not addressed, it will only cause more stress and problems for both the students and staff during these last few weeks of school. First they need to start enforcing punishments for students that park in the student lot without a pass or with a pass from previous years. The administration should also start penalizing the people who have 75 lot or CTE passes and are parking in the 830 lot. Another way for the administration to open up more spots in the 830 lot is to have the staff park in the staff parking lot. There are a few spots for staff members in the 830 lot, but there are more staff members parking in the lot than there are designated spots.