This school year, students were encouraged to not take buses to school due to COVID-19 and instead asked to drive or find rides. Driving to school is a huge expense for many students due to gas, and in addition, parking passes are $50, making them not only expensive but inequitable.

After first semester ended,  parking permits issued during the beginning of the school year were no longer valid. For many, this caused serious confusion. Many students who were unaware a new parking permit was necessary were given notice that they were parked illegally. The only way to continue parking in the student lot was to buy a permit, but without the knowledge a new one was needed, many tried to get permits when it was too late. Students were put on a waiting list to get parking permits, meaning students may be at risk for parking tickets or the fee from their car being towed if parking permit enforcement continues. 

Students should not have to pay for a pass, nor should those who can’t pay be towed or ticketed. Encouraging students not to take buses to school, then turning around and potentially towing students’ cars because they didn’t get a parking permit is hypocritical. The students with the resources to pay for a permit get to park in the lot, closer to the building, but the students without those resources must park on the streets surrounding the school, or risk a ticket. By giving out tickets for parking violations, the students who couldn’t afford them are at even more of a disadvantage. 

The parking lot should be first come first serve. That way, all students who drove to school would have an equal opportunity to park in the lot and not on side streets. There is no reason why students who drive to school should be ticketed for parking in the only available parking lot. This might even encourage students to arrive at school on time, or possibly a little bit early so they wouldn’t have to walk from a side street. Our current system for parking in the student lot is inequitable. Parking should be more accessible to all students.