With the end of the school year just weeks away, there has been a spike of non-parking pass owners using the school parking lot. This leaves students who bought a parking pass at the beginning of the semester circling the parking with no spots available.

Sophomore Rylie Unganst, said she was frustrated with the increased number of students parking in the parking lot despite having a parking pass herself, which leaves her scrambling for an open parking spot.

“I get mad because (when there are no available parking spots), I have to park either way in the back or not even in the parking lot and I feel like I will be late,” Unganst said. “It adds extra stress to my day. I spent 50 dollars on a parking pass, why are other people being allowed to park there without one? (Administration should) tow people like they say they are going to do, not just put a paper on their car and call it a day.”

Assistant principal Jessica Busse explained the root of this issue and why no action has been taken up until recently. 

“We never had the staffing to do it. The reason we are doing it now is because we are having issues with people (who have a parking pass) not having parking spots,” Busse said. “Administration is in charge of it right now, anybody and everybody. We’ve had to find somebody to do it even though we really don’t have a person because people don’t have parking spots.”

Sophomore Thomas Shope said he feels the consequences of using the parking lot are too great for him to take the risk.

“It’s not a huge deal to  park on the street, and I think it is not worth the risk of getting towed,” Shope said.

Junior Micah Davis said he doesn’t feel affected by not having a parking pass. He said he continues to park in the parking lot regardless of not having a parking pass, and feels the price of the parking pass is too high.

“It doesn’t really affect me, I don’t feel I need to pay 70 dollars for a pass. I feel like more people would be willing to get a parking pass if it wasn’t so expensive,” Davis said. “Parking passes are unnecessarily expensive — if the school doesn’t want people who don’t pay to park in the parking lot, the simple solution is to make it cheaper in the first place.”

Student complaints have reached administration and with the school year coming to an end, Admin is planning on revisiting how to be stricter with parking passes in the upcoming school year. Parking pass sale information for the first semester of the 2022-23 school year will be coming out later this summer.