Parents in the Parking Lot

School parking lots are a busy place. Teachers and students share the parking lot, and for the most part,  everything works. But, lot leeches who didn’t pay $75 for a parking spot have decided that they don’t need to use the line designated just for them. Students’ very own role models, their parents, have invaded the parking lot.

Passionate senior Bella Rouse says, “It absolutely sucks because when they leave and I’m trying to get to my car on time, because Mr. Diggs doesn’t let us out five minutes early,”. This also sheds light on the fact that seniors are losing their senior privileges at the end of the day. “All these parents are leaving and driving across the parking lot, so I can’t walk. This is the student and teacher parking lot, why are you here?” remarks Rouse in response to the parking situation.

The high population density of the parking lot also opens the floor for more accidents to occur. Whether or not a parent or student is at fault, someone could get hurt.

“It’s the dumbest thing because they don’t know where they’re going and it’s going to cause more accidents.” says Kaitlyn Tolson, senior. Tolson has been driving to Stafford since the beginning of their junior year, and in that time she has seen accidents that she feels were preventable if parents weren’t allowed in student spaces.

Now some parents can purchase a parking spot and only use it to pick up students; they have a right to one as much as anyone else who has purchased one in that circumstance. But some parents do not do this. Instead, they typically drive into the front parking lot and drop off/pick up students by the sidewalk. This creates more traffic in an already crowded parking lot, which is mostly populated by new drivers. 

“They are very entitled to these parking spots, even though they didn’t pay for them, they are $75. I paid for mine out of pocket and these grown people pull up with no stickers taking parking spots,” says Briana Pittman, a senior. “Each kid has a parking spot, it’s for population control, if you add all these parent’s cars it gets overpopulated so quickly people don’t know where to go, car crashes may happen, kids might get run over, who knows?”

Another senior, Mckenzie Burgess, also commented on the situation, “We pay $75 for these parking spots and they just come in and park for the convenience to pick their kid up. When there is a designated line for them to go to, so they can pick their kid up.” 

Last year from spot 441 during the first week of school, Ryland James, senior, witnessed a parent hit a parked car belonging to a student. Why are we letting these parents invade and cause chaos when students are given tickets for parking without a sticker?