3:35 p.m. 1,000 Arcata High School students. One parking lot. From getting your spot stolen to almost hitting three other cars and students on the way out, our parking lot is known for its near-death experiences.
At this point in the year, a large majority of students have started driving to school. Everyone knows by now that if you aren’t at school by 8:05 am, you most likely won’t have a spot for the day. Many students feel very opinionated about our parking lot, while still having to follow school rules. When asked how she would describe our school parking lot, senior Malia Wolven said, “The Hunger Games.” However, when we asked campus supervisor Luis, he responded with “decent.” So, where does the discrepancy lie between student and admin opinions?
When it comes to student solutions, many have proposed the idea of paying for a designated parking spot. Senior and student driver Do’Vaughna Hayes says, “I would pay for my parking spot for the year, and no one can take my spot.” Senior Malia Wolven agrees, saying, “To have a guaranteed spot, happily.”
There has been a recent crackdown from our admin on where students can and can’t park. Visitor and gym parking have been strictly enforced as no student parking zones, which has eliminated the availability of spots on campus. Recently, our administration has also announced that they will be enforcing consequences for violating these no-parking zones. When asked how these violations would be enforced, our principal, Ms. Ferderber, said “license plates.”
When asked to further explain, she said that she would have more specifics after the focus group meetings scheduled for April 24th, May 8th, and May 22nd. Likely, this year’s seniors will never see the solutions.
Students have also proposed the idea of senior-only parking at the gym, or even just senior-painted parking spots. This would allow for designated parking for seniors, and free parking for juniors and sophomores. Even if this doesn’t remove every issue, it would take a lot of stress off of seniors who have earned the privilege after driving to school for a couple of years. The problem with gym parking is the safety of the Six Rivers students.
There are many conflicts and solutions to our ongoing parking lot issue, which is why students are encouraged to sign up and attend the focus group meetings. Hopefully, our future student drivers will see a solution to this problem.
