For as long as most can remember, students at State High have been able to purchase a parking spot for $30 a semester. Recently, students found that not everyone who wishes to have a parking spot have been able to get one with their new system where there are assigned spots to specific students.
Associate principal Brett Wilson handles communication with students for purchasing parking spots. Wilson shared more about his role and responsibilities.
“At the beginning of the year, I will contact students and what they have to do is put in information about their vehicle. I also sent them to where they could purchase the parking pass through MySchoolBucks account,” Wilson said.
It is interesting to think about how State High ended up in the situation of not having enough spots. Students have wondered how many spots there are versus how many people want one.
“The number of parking spots and the number of students who want one varies per year,” Wilson stated. “If there are enough spots available, we are able to extend them to underclassmen. With the senior class itself getting bigger, each grade is a little bigger than the previous so we have had less and less spots to be able to give.”
This situation has brought a lot of frustration upon students. A junior at State High, Ben Carey, explained why.
“Last year, the school just gave people parking spaces and they did not assign them spots so whoever had a parking pass could just go and park,” Carey said. “This year since they are assigning them, it creates a domino effect of somebody parking in someone’s assigned spot and then others not having anywhere to park. If somebody is parked in someone’s spot, that person is gonna park in the next and it just goes on and on. All of these people are gonna get towed and it’s not even their fault.”
Students have also questioned why there hasn’t other lots purchased nearby or more spaces created for students to park.
“We used to have the gravel up by the Community Field lot, but there’s a construction project going on there soon so that lot wasn’t maintained,” Wilson said.
While Wilson claims that this lot is not being used anymore, Carey explained his experience with this lot.
“I get to school around 8:35 and have to park far away at Community field like a lot of other juniors who are not allowed to have a parking spot. I’ve been late to school three or more times because it takes so long to walk all the way from the community field parking lot down to the field,” Carey said. “If you don’t get to the community by around 8:30, you’re gonna have to park either in the grass somewhere or in front and in between the sheds up there. These are not in any way parking spaces, but people have nowhere else to park.”
Right next to State High is a grocery store, Weis, that has a big parking area that is not full most of the time. Some wondered why State High doesn’t just buy this lot to create more space for parking. It turns out the school tried to, but it didn’t work out.
“Last year, we reached out to Weis to see who owns that lot because there are so many abandoned buildings over there and no one is using it,” Wilson said. “They said it was another company who might even be outside of the state who owned it and then they just stopped answering our emails. They were asking how much we were gonna charge and we told them what we charge students for parking and then they just stopped answering.”
Even though this plan failed, it is important to acknowledge the effort that has been put into this issue. Everyone seems to want to have access to enough parking spaces, it has just been a difficult process.
A parking spot per semester costs $30, and an additional $40 if students would like to paint it. Since this can be pretty expensive, especially for high school students, some may wonder what is happening with the money made from this. Wilson explained what the funds are used for.
“I believe that money goes into the school building fund so that it’s able to go to different things we pay for at the school. The painting money went to all the different class senates so they would be able to pay for things like events or decorations,” Wilson said.
Even though State High has not yet reached a solution for this issue and the situation is frustrating for many students, it is important to keep students informed that administration has been trying to allow all students to have parking access.
