A Freshman Response to The Parking Issue
- Sean Chapman
- May 3, 2023
- 2 min read
Written By: Dylan Quinn
This is part of a spotlight on Freshmen article writing in Sarah Grimesey's class
With new Freshmen arriving, the problem of Juniors and Seniors not having space to park is
occurring again. Upperclassmen have been expressing their feelings about this issue and
addressing it to the rest of the school in hopes of a solution. You may think that things like
adding more parking or making the freshmen move to the tennis courts could be ideal, but there is also something much simpler than these two.
Arriving at school just a little earlier would prevent upperclassmen from being late.
A simple minute or two could make a huge difference.
Juniors and Seniors have been speaking out about this problem occurring at the high school. These students have needed to park at the tennis courts, and for this reason, they are arriving late to school; These older students agree that the Freshmen should park at the tennis courts like they had to as Freshmen. This year, this issue has become more popular than the previous years. Upperclassmen are sick of being late to school because of how far the walk is from the tennis courts to the school. This year, the freshmen do not have to park at the tennis courts, they park at the maintenance area and by the administration building but people want to put a change to this.
This problem has a very simple solution: arrive at school earlier. This doesn’t necessarily mean getting to school at the time freshmen would or getting to school 10 or 15 minutes earlier than you normally would--this looks like getting to school only a minute or two earlier! This would not implement a drastic change in your morning routine. When you compare the time it takes to walk from either the freshman lot or Bandland, it is only a 2-3 minute difference. After leaving a few minutes earlier, older students would still be getting to school at 8:30, leaving plenty of time in the morning to get ready and do the normal activities at the beginning of the day.
This problem is not that complicated and can be fixed in a very simple way. Even better, It solves a very common problem that is occurring at the high school today. Waking up just a little earlier in the day will solve the problem of students being late to school because of no parking.
As a senior, I leave during the day and come back for 4th since I don’t have a 3rd and my class occasionally doesn’t meet 2nd. This does not solve the problem because many of the freshmen refuse to park where they are supposed to. Also, if everyone comes early but freshmen are still in the main lots, how does that make any difference???
The main parking issue for upperclassmen are not due to the mornings but are for students without a second block. There needs to be a way to have spots for those students or there needs to be assigned study halls for those students (despite that likely not being a popular solution). You can't expect these students to sit there at school for over an hour in their cars or inside the library or cafeteria without that being a problem.
This "solution" does not apply to the upperclassmen that do not have 2nd-period classes. This "solution" still does not solve the problem that freshmen are not parking in designated freshman parking, taking up spaces that would be available to upperclassmen when they arrive after 2nd-period.