During the 2022-2023 school year, students had the freedom to choose exactly where they wanted to park — based on factors such as proximity to first period and where their friends were parking. Now that the 2023-2024 school year has started, student drivers no longer have to think about it.
A week before school started, an email was sent out to the students’ parents explaining the new changes regarding parking regulations. It explained that all student drivers are to park in the senior lot and can only enter through Perkins Road. The east lot is reserved for parent drop-off only, meaning no one can cut through to the senior lot.
“We began talks as an administrative team about the parking situation last year during the final four weeks of school, coinciding with AP testing,” Michael Ayers, assistant principal, said. “We closed the East lot and moved all student parking to the senior lot for an ease of traffic flow and [better] supervision. We found that it was successful and over the summer we bantered around possibilities of making adjustments [to student parking.]”
With the new parking regulations, students no longer have the freedom to park in whatever spot they please. Each student is assigned a certain spot, which corresponds with the number on their purchased parking pass. However, an incentive now given to seniors will allow them to paint their individual spots once the weather cools down.
“I [was given] spot 93 and at first I didn’t like it.” Arielle Brent (12) said. “I was one of the first people [to buy a parking pass] so I’m near the front, but I wanted to be near all of my friends in the back row. It’s okay though, I’m honestly excited to paint my spot.”
During the second week of school, an announcement was made informing students that parking passes would be sold during lunch for $20. A parent’s signature and the student’s driver’s license number along with information regarding the car’s make, model, color, year and license plate number were all required in writing to receive a spot. Knowing that the former ‘senior lot’ has a finite number of spaces, an influx of students opted to get their passes sooner rather than later.
“I went down to the cafeteria during lunch one day but there was a huge line,” Anahi Sanchez (12) said. “Mr. Ayers walked down the line collecting the forms and the money and told us that we’d have to wait for our actual parking pass.”
Paying a higher price than the previous $10 fee comes with perks; seniors are able to paint their individual parking spots, a new tradition beginning this year. Mr. Ayers is planning a date for this activity in the near future.
“[I am looking forward] to painting our parking spots,” Brent said. “I think I’m going to do mine strawberry themed to match the interior decorations [in my car.]”
The heat of August put the quality of the first batch of passes to the test. If any issue arises with a parking pass, students have been directed to display the pass on the dashboard and listen for an announcement saying that new passes have been made and are ready to pick up.
“One day I was at work [while it was really hot outside] and my car got up to 107 degrees and my parking pass was completely messed up,” Brent said. “It melted and the vinyl was peeling off. It won’t even hang on my rear-view mirror.”
Many questions arose among the student body once the changes were officially announced, and some were quick to concoct their own reasoning and, according to Ayers, some even contacted administration.
“I feel like [administration made changes] because of how many random people would just walk on campus in the back lot,” Sanchez said. “It’s for security and the fact that there is a lot of ground to try to monitor.”
With the rise in violence across the nation, safety has been a contentious issue on the minds of school administrations in recent years. Starting with the new parking policy, the administration has been listening to concerns regarding school safety.
“The first thing that stood out to me was student safety,” Ayers said. “We were noticing a lot of students walking to class in the morning [after the 7-:05 bell] while students and parents are driving through campus. I witnessed several students almost get hit, especially since now it’s [custom] to drive while looking at your phone. Student safety is the only reason the conversation was even considered.”
After selling passes for no more than a week, administration announced that every space in the student lot has been sold. With more students on the road, some are worried about the limited parking spots in the senior parking lot.
“The policy is going to have to be slightly changed,” Brent said. “Not everyone can fit in the senior lot.”
A second phase of the new parking regulations was mentioned during the upperclassman class meeting in response to concerned students who were either not able to purchase a pass due to limited space, or students who will be getting their licenses later in the school year with nowhere to park.
“With a place that has so many moving parts, you’ve got to always look at your systems,” Ayers said. “Nothing is ever written in stone. You’ve got to look at it and ask ‘What’s working? What’s not working? Can we make adjustments? What are we not willing to budge on?,’ [and use] cost/benefit analysis as well.”
Now that the parking regulations have been in place for a few weeks, it takes about five to seven minutes to get into the lot in the morning for students like senior, Arielle Brent. There have not been any major accidents, cars being broken into, or heavy increases of traffic. In the eyes of administration, students have adequately acclimated to the new parking regulations.
“I cannot be more proud of the efforts that White Station students have shown during this transition,” Ayers said. “I don’t know that any other class beyond this senior and junior class could have made this adjustment and made it so well.”