Student parking looks a little different this year. The best parking spots go to those who get here early.

 In previous years, students purchased an assigned parking spot, but this year a parking sticker is valid for any spot except the reserved senior “painted” parking spaces in rows A-E.

 For a $30 parking sticker, students are free to park anywhere in rows F-Y.  

This makes it easier for parents to park when attending games or assemblies on campus during school hours. With unassigned student spots, there’s no worry that a parent will accidentally park in a student’s assigned spot.

“We have a lot of volleyball tournaments and awards ceremonies,” assistant principal Ray Young said.  “It brings a lot of people to campus. During a volleyball tournament the second week of school when parents came up, we told them to park anywhere besides A-E.”

The decision to change the parking process was made by the administration over the summer, but Young came up with the idea.

“I proposed it, and gave everybody the opportunity to shoot holes in it,” he said. “It was decided by the admin team that the pros outweigh the cons, and so we said, ‘We’re gonna try it.’”

 According to Young, there have been students who attempted to park on campus without a parking permit, as well as unknown vehicles that are not registered at the school. He said it is easier to cite cars without stickers rather than going down the line and seeing who is in an assigned spot. 

 “I was driving my friend to school when I saw that someone parked in my reserved spot,” senior Brooke Byrd said. “I went to the AP office and Ms. Lira told me the car wasn’t registered to any student on campus, and she reported it as a vehicle violation.”

There are consequences to violating these parking regulations. Students can get cited and booted which can be removed for $20. Repeat offenders may have their vehicle being towed at their own expense. 

Other issues related to the parking lot include students speeding in the parking lot endangering others and backed up traffic before and after school.

“Since there is no traffic light at the end of the parking lot, you have to wait a long time to turn left,” Young said. “Our school was not built with traffic in mind because there’s one way in, one way out, as opposed to other schools with multiple exits.”