In elementary and middle school, when all students were young and license-less, their parents would drop them off in the morning in the school parking lot, hand them their lunch, and kiss them goodbye. This intimate and time-consuming parting fit perfectly in the environment of these schools, but not now. This is high school.

Some parents—mostly parents of freshmen or sophomores—cannot break the habit of entering the main section of the parking lot and dropping off their kids conveniently in front of the main entrance. Some even find it necessary to park in a space, so their kids don’t have to rush out of the car. These parents follow the same routine every morning and are evidently oblivious to the fact that they have a drop off zone just for them.

The school has attempted solve this problem in many ways, from marking off parent dropoff zones with neon cones to the appointment of a student traffic commission to hold up signs directing parents toward the drop off zone. There are three entrance ramps: two that lead to the parking lot and one on the far side that leads to the drop-off zone. However, parents unfailingly keep returning to the parking lots, disregarding the pleas of the students and administrators alike.

There are obvious reasons the parking lot is designated as student-only. Since Herriman Avenue is congested every morning, the possibility of a traffic accident is always possible. The parking lot is designed in such a way that most traffic can run much more smoothly when traffic is running in one direction, as it should be in the morning.

However, parents leaving the parking lot ruin this traffic system and increase the possibility of an accident. A parent who has just dropped his or her child off and is pulling out of a parking spot is extremely dangerous, since driving students do not expect cars leaving parking spots in the morning.

Additionally, parents in the parking lot makes the circulation of cars slow down. This results in the tardiness of many students. While a parent takes a spot and waits for their child to leave the car and enter the school, a student who could have had much more convenient and timely parking will pass by.

Parents need to realize that students resent their presence in the parking lot not just out of a sense of entitlement. They are concerned for their own safety and their ability to make it to school on time. Although the administration has backed students in their plight here, their actions seem to continually fall on parents’ deaf ears. Consequently, the issue must be brought to the eyes of Falcon readers one more time: parents, please stay in your drop-off zone and out of the student parking lots.