By 7:40 a.m., the school’s front parking lot is overflowing with seniors and juniors trying to park their cars in time to make the first bell. Just as they turn off Herriman Ave. and breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the school, they find a sea of parents parked in minivans and other cars blocking their way, seemingly content with where they are and reluctant to move an inch.
Parents have always been well-meaning, and it’s important to understand, if not empathize with, their need to drop off and pick up their kids. However, not only do many parents take up room, but they also feel as though they have the right to block cars by stopping in the middle of the parking lots and waiting for their child to cross and reach the safety of the quad. The delay caused by these sitting ducks often cause students to be late to their first class when, in reality, they were on school grounds well ahead of time. This problem has become so bad that it’s time parents were subject to the same consequences as students in the parking lots: being levied with fines for idling.
The school makes it clear that the junior and senior parking lots are restricted to parents as pick-up and drop-off zones only. Parents are supposed to follow the lanes leading to the front of the school, but due to morning traffic, they find it easier to grace the upperclassmen parking areas with their presence, blocking the oncoming junior and senior cars.
Worse still, parents also block the way of many students who try and walk through the parking lot. By creating a line of cars that sometimes stretches to the school entrances, the bumper-to-bumper situation causes pedestrians to get stuck behind them too. If parents feel the need to skip the lines in the front, they should at least use the far back parking lots, which would prevent conflict between students and parents, since students are only allowed to use the front lots for parking.
Although these violations are quite irritating to the students, some are worse than others. For example, stopping in the middle of the parking lot is far more serious than idling in a parking space designated for students. Therefore, those committing more egregious offenses should have a greater fine than the rest to compensate for the delays in the parking lots.
However, not all of these violations occur in the morning. Many times after school, a student waiting to back out of their parking space is halted by a car behind them waiting for their child. Although fewer students usually care after school, it is still a nuisance to have to wait for a parent to watch their child safely buckle themselves in before being able to pull out.
Even though the administration has tried to curb parents’ behavior through communication and signs, the school needs to be firmer with its policies. Some parents aren’t seeming to get the message. Maybe a dent in their pocketbooks will get through to them.