February 14, 2023

After years of taking the bus to school, the moment has come. You take your driver’s exam and earn your license with the intent to drive yourself to school. Your excitement is short-lived, however, as you learn that a parking pass is required for students ($25 a semester or $50 for the year). If you don’t purchase a pass you are given a verbal warning, followed by a detention. After that, your car will be towed. 

We understand that parking passes are an income stream for the district and a way of keeping track of who is parking in the student lot. After the cost of maintaining a car is factored in, however, along with the price of fuel and the $300-$400 driver education course fee, many students can barely squeeze out $50 (or the payment is pushed off on their parents). 

We think that the cost to pay to park at our  own school is too high, especially considering that access to public education is a right for all students.  

There are several reasons for our view on this issue. Some students are only physically on the premises for partial days, yet they have to pay the full price for a pass. Making students pay for parking could also be seen as counterproductive given the district’s bus driver shortage. Students who can’t or won’t pay the required fee may take the bus rather than drive themselves. Incentivizing more student drivers  to trasnport themselves might have a positive effect on the bus driver issue. 

In addition, there are plenty of parking spaces available each day and we are not aware of any issues with outside persons inappropriately parking on school grounds. 

There are alternatives to the status quo. The school could implement a reasonable one-time parking fee that lasts through a student’s high school career. Student Council currently allows students to reserve a parking spot for $20. We suggest switching the fees: $20 annually for a general 4-year parking pass and $50 for reserving a space. 

We have heard from Drumbeat readers on a related issue: Certain areas of the parking lot have incurred damage from weather and heavy car traffic. At the West entrance, the lot has sunk into a low angle that has to be navigated gingerly. Student parking fees may be more palatable to our teen drivers if this was addressed in the next cycle of regular facilities maintenance.

Modifying the existing parking pass policy would be an easy way for the district to both alleviate stress on current bus routes and reduce financial pressure on our hardworking students.