With a new school year comes a new parking situation. Parking on campus is a privilege, as it allows students of different situations such as OJT (on the job training), dual enrollment, and virtual to leave school when they need to. With parking being so beneficial, there are a few caveats to the system.

In order to park on campus, students need an assigned parking pass and written slip stating the location and spot number of their parking spot. When students purchase a parking spot, they also receive a sticker to put on the lower-left corner of their front windshield. The pass allows administrators to tell which spot is the students, and whether or not they are parking in their designated spot. At the beginning of each year, passes are sold on MySchoolBucks, ranging from $70 to $100. Standard parking, which is offered to rising juniors and seniors, is distributed before the school year starts to various parking lots around campus, such as New Gym, Tribe, Warrior, and CTE. On the other hand,  for $100, senior parking is offered to rising seniors permitting seniors to personalize and paint their spots at the beginning of the year. 

Because each student has a numbered allocated parking space, students without a parking pass parking on-campus risk running into trouble with the administration. If a student is caught parking without a pass, a first-time violation warning will be given, however,   if a student continues to park on campus, detention or referral will be administered based on the severity and repetition of the situation. 

“Someone was in my spot so I parked in my friend’s spot since they weren’t at school that day. During class, I got called out because they saw I was parked in another spot and I had to move my car because I wasn’t supposed to park there, even though I had permission to,” said junior Nick Jaffe.

Another issue students face with the new numbered parking policy is other students parking outside of their allocated spot. This can be an issue depending on what time students arrive at school, facing the inconvenience of having to park elsewhere and risking consequences.

“When someone took my parking spot, I felt very angry and annoyed. I went to the front office immediately and parked. When I went inside to inform the administration that my spot was taken, they told me to stay parked in front until I got a call from them. They never called me so I stayed there for the rest of the day. I remained uneasy about it for the rest of the day,” said junior Kaitlyn Huff.

With an incoming new year and a larger student body, the administration will be adding a new parking lot, with hopes of troubleshooting the current situation. For students, a new school year brings a new opportunity for a more understanding and accommodating parking system.

If you have any thoughts or experiences about the new parking system, feel free to leave a comment below, or DM us @seminole newspaper on Instagram.