Having been driving to school for three of my four years in high school, I have experienced my fair share of parking lot horrors. From construction sophomore year, lack of space junior year and overabundance of staff parking senior year, this school just cannot seem to find an arrangment that works.

There are 1,142 students and 137 staff members in the school including custodians and kitchen staff. Between the sophomore, junior and senior classes, there are over 800 students who could potentially drive to school daily. However, our parking lot only accomodates 427 student vehicles and 116 staff vehicles. This presents a huge problem. It means that students are scrambling to find space in the mornings, resulting in illegal parking and tardiness that could be avoided.

Personally, it is extremely frustrating to leave 35 minutes early for school, sit in traffic for over 10 minutes (which is a whole ‘nother issue) and arrive at the school only to see several empty parking spaces marked “STAFF” but find no other spaces open.

There are several solutions that administration could pursue in order to solve this ongoing problem. They could implement parking privileges by grade, where only upperclassmen are allowed to drive to school. A less severe option is to restrict freshmen from driving themselves to school. The very least they could do is allot a “Senior Parking” area as they did during the 2009-1010 school year.

The new lot next to the tennis courts, the school’s only attempt at a solution, seems to be ineffective. Anyone who parks there must cross the main driveway, which is a risky area even for drivers, without the protection of a crosswalk. It is good for athletic parking, but little else.

Something more has to be done. With the student body growing and the staff population increasing subsequently, the school needs to make a more drastic effort to solve the problem in the parking lot.