Recent conflict surrounding the student parking pass policy for Sam Barlow High School has sparked controversy among students and staff, and has even brought parents into it.
Parking passes have been around since before 1980, with rules in place as well. Juniors and seniors were always the only ones allowed to have the privilege of parking at Sam Barlow High School. But what about the 16 year olds that get their licenses? Or those who either don’t meet the requirements of getting a parking permit or didn’t win the raffle for one. Where should they be parking? Sam Barlow believes that they shouldn’t be parking at the school at all. It seems reasonable for the staff to follow the rules of enforcing parking pass permits since they’ve been doing so forever, but with kids nowadays getting their licenses and most having cars, many feel the need for change.
Many teenagers these days either have after-school jobs, sports, or even classes that they need to get to. It’s difficult to get to such things on time if teens ride the bus or get picked up. Driving straight from school to these extracurriculars helps teens arrive on time and makes things easier for them. Denying passes to those who just go straight from home to school to home makes sense, but rejecting passes to students who have important things to do after school doesn’t.
One sophomore claims that the parking pass rules are “unfair and unreasonable”, stating that not allowing students to park in places that “don’t matter” is ridiculous. When they talk about those places that “don’t matter,” they mean the empty spots in the parking lot that are there every day. Between the start and the end of school, there are always empty spaces that can fit at least 20-40 cars, so why restrict drivers from parking there? Another sophomore argues that “the fact that there are enough spots and they don’t let sophomores park there even though they have their driver’s license is just greedy.” They claim that the “campus monitors spend more time patrolling the parking lot than they do monitoring the bathrooms for substance use, which doesn’t allow those who really need to use the bathroom to use it.” They also said that freshman year, they took the bus and it was fine, but now they have an “afterschool college class that starts at 3:00,” and have to “leave school immediately and go straight to the campus, otherwise” risking being “late to [the] college course.”
The parents of those students without parking passes have complained to the school. One parent spoke with the principal, but he says there aren’t enough parking spots. Although she drives past many empty parking spots in the morning and afternoon, Bhear claims it is due to absent students and won’t make an exception. The empty spots in the morning and afternoon are either reserved for those with late arrivals or early releases. Even some students with a parking pass are absent for some days. Bhear says that the best they can do is encourage those without a parking pass to leave a note on their car’s dashboard with their name and number on it so they know whose car it is, and will potentially come talk to them instead of ticketing, booting, or towing them.
On the other hand, these drivers must have had a way to get to school when they didn’t have licenses. After interviewing these drivers, many said that even though they had a way to get to school, they complained that the buses came way too early, resulting in them missing the bus; or if they were dropped off, they were almost always late to first period. Obviously, the staff can’t control what time school starts, but there are solutions to make most everyone satisfied.
Buses can arrive on schedule on time, and if they’re early to their stops, they can wait a limited amount of time for students to get there. If students miss the bus, it’s either their fault or the buses’. Both should follow the bus schedule’s time. However, it is important to note that the buses have a 20-minute window to arrive at their stops, so a student has the potential to be standing out in the cold for that amount of time or longer if the bus is late.
One solution is to allow those students who have extracurricular activities to park at the school. They should apply for a parking permit and be interviewed to see if they are eligible for consideration. The parking passes should not be restricted to only Juniors and Seniors. They should be permitted for those with a license who qualify for such rules.
Staff, students, parents, and more should come to an agreement instead of wasting time arguing. Arguing is pointless, and communication should be the main priority. Things can often get out of hand, resulting in useless fights. As the world progresses, rules often evolve with it. Society adjusts to these changes in different ways, so the school should as well. The school should listen to these complaints and make a change, instead of sticking to the mindset of “well, it’s always been this way.”
