For students and staff, the overcrowded school parking lot has made parking at school an issue, leading to tardiness and frustration.

According to school resource officer Darion Hillman, the overcrowded parking lot can be attributed to the construction containers used for ongoing site repairs.

“The first semester is always a little chaotic for all the new drivers, and this year we had to add in different construction crews on site that work on air conditioning and the North Field House, which also took up a majority of our parking,” Hillman said. “I’m hoping after all the snow melts, and we get the last container out of here, we’ll return back to normal operations.”

There have also been some rule changes that have caused students to struggle with parking. According to Hillman, these recent changes needed to be made.

“At one point, students were allowed to park in the front lot, but that changed in the last few months,” Hillman said. “That would change because the teachers were basically uncomfortable and they wanted a separate parking lot.”

Art teacher Josephine Ellis also remembers a time when the parking lot rules were different and explains what that difference was.

“It used to be that, all teachers, had to park in the front to make sure that there was enough room for the kids in the back,” Ellis said.

Last year, students were allowed to park in the front lot. However, this year, students have been told that they are now not allowed to park there and that the lot is exclusive to staff.

Senior Jackson Sprecker is one of many student drivers who previously parked in the front lot, and he believes that the front lot could help solve the issue if it was open to students again.

“I thought [not being allowed to park in the front lot] was stupid because they told us that we could use it [last year],” Sprecker said. “But even when all the students parked [the front lot] last year, there were still open spaces. Plus the teachers get to school before us and leave after us, so it’s not like it’s busy for the teachers. Even now, I see many open spots in [the front lot] where students could park.”

Junior Steven Butler also parked in the front parking lot last year and has issues with the rules restricting students from parking there this year.

“What I don’t like is that we can’t park in the staff parking lot but the staff can park in our parking lot,” Butler said.

Although some students think it is unfair that the front parking lot has become off-limits for them, Ellis thinks that it is completely fair.

“We don’t get a whole bunch of perks as teachers, so I don’t think giving us a parking lot is too much to ask,” Ellis said.

To help solve the issue, Hillman recommends that students arrive early to school in order to give themselves more time.

“If students just arrive 10 minutes early and give themselves enough time to walk, we’ll have like 40 parking spots in the Monticello Trails parking lot,” Hillman said. “They can just park down there and give themselves time to walk into school or park in overflow, which would be very helpful.”

Hillman regularly checks for parking passes, disciplining students who park illegally or without a parking pass.

“​​I try to go out daily or every other day just to get out and check and discipline those people who are not allowed to drive, like if there’s a freshman driving or sophomore who does not have a parking pass,” Hillman said.

Although the current situation in the parking lot cannot be helped, student frustration with the issue has been at an all-time high. Junior Ana Rios explains her frustrations with the overcrowded parking lot.

“There will be days where I’m going up and down the aisles for 20 minutes before just giving up and going into the teacher parking lot,” Rios said.

Butler shares this concern especially because he has to leave and come back.

“I’m in Teaching as a Career so we have to leave and come back and the past three times we’ve had to circle the entire parking lot to find a spot,” Butler said. “And the last time, the only reason we found a spot was because some girl was leaving and we watched her walk to her car and get in her car, and then when she pulled out we took her spot.”

Another problem that has arisen relating to the parking lot is the traffic coming from the school. Ellis raises the concern of traffic surrounding school hours getting worse and the lack of attention that it is getting.

“I feel like kids, can’t wait to get out of the parking lot, and there’s no rules, they’re not careful and it would be nice if there was a little bit of policing, especially at the beginning of the school and maybe at the end,” Ellis said. “But we were told we don’t have the resources for that.”