“I got towed today,” said the responsible, shy, and clever senior boy from the back of the classroom. He is described with these adjectives because he truly is a good student, but is in a horrible situation. Even with his $70 parking pass and a cute “Seminole Pride” sticker on his rear bumper, this unlucky guy has to come up with $100 to $200 dollars to pay a towing company to get his precious Honda Civic back.
Looking back at the situation, he arrived at school a bit late that day due to traffic on Airport Boulevard, maneuvered his car through senior parking, and could not find a single space. Glancing at the time of 6:59 am on his dashboard, he had to think quickly. Knowing that his first period class was all the way in Warrior Hall, he could not risk being late and getting a Wednesday detention. He sped through pool parking, noticed all the student parking spots were full, parked in an empty teacher’s spot (there were dozens of empty faculty spots), and ran to class, making it through the door as the bell rang.
But, see, his story is one that no one in administration or the towing company hears, and the fact of the matter is he is not at fault and he is not alone. For this student and many others with “2012” parking permits, there are many factors burdening these students from every getting the parking space they deserve, especially seniors.
A number of factors contribute to the parking mayhem on campus. These factors include: not enough parking spaces, the addition of more juniors being able to park on campus, students who park without a parking permit and teachers parking in students’ spots and students parking in teacher’s spots contribute to this parking conundrum. Though the problems are complex, the solutions are simple. Adjusting campus parking at SHS could have numerous benefits.
The phrase, “I got towed” and many others similar to it containing the words “parking,” “towing,” and “injustice” spiral through the hallways of Seminole High School every single day. These phrases spark rage in students and parents; deduct funds from bank accounts, and make Athens Towing, the company that provides towing services for SHS, rich and happy. And unfortunately, these phrases will continue to be said by Seminole students if parking at SHS does not get any better anytime soon. Even though the year is almost over, it has been hectic and troublesome due to all the parking commotions and ordeals occurring on campus.
Let’s recap: during the summer of this school year, Seminole began selling parking passes to seniors. The school year began, and unlike the year before, where the school held a junior lottery to raffle off parking spaces to select juniors, administration decided to sell parking passes to all juniors who requested a space. It seemed that no spaces had been added and nothing related to parking had changed from the year before. However, “we had enough spaces to not have to do the junior lottery,” said Principal Mike Gaudreau.
The back lot between the new gym and the baseball field is the “junior” lot, though Mr. Gaudreau said that “it isn’t specific to juniors, anyone can park there.” Senior parking is beside Tomahawk Hall as always, some parking for students is available beside the auditorium and Tribe Hall, and the three rows closes to the pool are for seniors and juniors. But, quite frankly, more spaces should be provided for seniors.
Parking has always been traditionally a senior privilege, and though many juniors have extracurricular activities and need to drive to school, administration has forgotten about its seniors. There should be a separation of parking for juniors and seniors. The junior lot should be specifically for juniors and the senior lot, rows by the pool, and other various rows around campus should be designated to the seniors.
Due to the influx in juniors receiving parking passes it appears that SHS did not take into account that they were not providing enough parking spaces for students that had already received passes. Seminole should go back to the junior lottery method, because it worked quite well.
Juniors simply should only park in junior parking. There is ample space and always extra spots, and guess what… If they need to move their car after school to a space in pool parking, they can do it and not miss practices or extracurricular activities. Parking was always a senior privilege, and juniors should respect that and adapt to the situation.
Seniors should have closer, more efficient parking spaces. Administration should sell passes to the seniors and make sure they have enough spaces to accommodate them. If parking for seniors included the senior lot, the three back rows in the pool parking lot, and the back row by the auditorium parking and Tribe Hall, no senior would have to fight against juniors for a spot.
Senior Ashley Blonsick said, “I think parking is really terrible because people do not know where to park. Often juniors park in the senior lot for some reason and seniors have to find parking in other places. Most times there is no room. I park beside the auditorium and there are way too many teacher spots back there. Sometimes teachers park in student spots.”
Much sharing goes on at Seminole, from lockers, hallway space, desks, events, and the air we breathe at SHS. All students have to share with one another. For seniors, who have studied and worked so hard to make it though the last four years of high school, they should receive the best upper class treatment. Seniors have to share prom with the juniors, and parking spaces, and the best student parking should truly be for SHS seniors who have the appropriate grades and behavior.
Senior Jason Halpern said, “Parking sucks because there are too many passes being sold. Seniors get shoved out all the way into junior parking because all the juniors get the spots closer to school which wasn’t occurring at the very beginning of the year.”
Consider this: In a recent poll taken on the Seminole Newspaper Facebook page, 56 people responded to the question “How do you feel about parking at SHS?” Approximately 88 percent of voters agreed that “there are not enough parking spaces and the problem gets worse every day.”
If there were really enough spaces on campus, why would parking be such a problem? Why would students and parents complain to administration about parking? Why would students park on the infamous swamp area or in the spaces of the surrounding apartment complexes just to get a space?
Five percent of voters choose “parking is not an issue if one gets to school early or on time.” As a buyer of a parking permit, it should not matter what time one arrives to school. A space should be provided for a student who pays for one. Though the world isn’t perfect, Seminole should try its best to provide each student who pays for a parking permit with a space.
Even if senior and junior parking are not separated, administration should regulate parking more accurately and try other methods to ensure every student who buys a pass receives a parking space. SHS could try to number parking spaces, so that every student receives a number in a certain parking spot depending on whether they are a junior or senior, and the selected parking lot they would prefer to park in, such as pool parking or the senior lot. This way, when a student goes to his or her parking space and someone else parks there, security can be called and the car can be towed for parking in the wrong spot. This method would guarantee that every student would have a parking space.
Towing also seems to be a problem on campus, and students who park on campus without a parking spot should be towed. Administration claims that this problem does not occur, but constantly students who do not take the right procedures park on campus. They know that they should not park there and they should not just be towed, but possibly face receiving a detention for doing this. The warnings that are left on cars who park in the wrong spots are not effective. They do not scare or threaten students, because students are over the parking situation and do not care anymore about the rules of parking on campus.
Slips that say, “We have recorded your license plate number,” do not work. Why… Because if they did, students would not have multiple copies of them on their front passenger seat. An anonymous junior, who has received two parking violations said, “I continued to park in the same spot.”
She also brought up another factor; “Faculty has more than enough spaces, and it is wrong for students to be denied parking spots when there are plenty of empty [faculty] spots available for use.”
At 7:05 all the parking spaces for students will be filled with different makes and models of cars. But looking over the teacher parking spaces, especially in pool parking, there are numerous empty spaces. Yet students get in trouble for parking there. Why? How about expanding pool parking for students a few spaces in another row, or give students a whole entire row? Maybe some teachers should park in their spots and give students a chance to park in theirs. Really? As a school – a community—a family of people, we can all help each other out and do the proper thing, especially with something as simple as parking.
Administration should reconsider the designation of all parking spaces on campus so everyone who has a pass also has a place to park.
Many students have constantly complained about parking. Although some students do not have trouble with parking, the majority are concerned. Senior Garrett McMahon said, “I park at the swimming pool parking lot and no one ever takes my spot. “
But for the students who do complain, they are told that “things will change,” and that “parking will get better.” Funny thing is, nothing has changed and parking has not gotten better. The advice students are given is to reach to school early to get parking. But that should not matter–everyone who has a pass should have a spot. Administration should go back to the drawing board and redo parking at SHS campus. Seniors and juniors should have separate parking lots and spaces, and SHS should consider new methods of organizing parking if such a separation is not made. The students and faculty of Seminole High School have important things to worry about, and parking should not add stress to the already hectic lives we have.