Why am I late to my A block two to three times a week? Why do I now have to walk ten minutes to school when I drive every day? Maybe it’s because I can no longer park on any of the eight open streets around the high school.

Students do not always drive to school because they want to. I used to live a 10 minute walk from school, and now I live a 20 minute drive away. Taking the bus and then the train from South Brookline takes over 40 minutes every morning. The city bus comes once every 45 minutes, meaning I would need to leave at 7 a.m. for my 8:15 class. At $2.95 per trip, commuting to and from school costs nearly $6 a day. With 180 days of school, that is $1,062 a year, a cost many families cannot easily absorb.

In many cases, especially when students carpool, driving can be more affordable than this lump sum, as the cost of gas can be shared. No one wants to sit in the 25 minute traffic from South Brookline, West Roxbury, Roslindale or other Boston suburbs to get to class on time just to have to walk even further, especially in the dead of winter. On top of that, students now risk paying a $30 ticket for trying to get to class on time.

Driving or carpooling to school in the morning saves students vital minutes to hours of sleep in a time when sleep deprivation is common and widely regarded as one of the biggest problems facing the health of students worldwide. According to a Cypress poll, conducted just over one year ago, 76 percent of responding students reported they get less than the recommended eight to nine hours of sleep per night. The last thing we as a community should be doing is making the already arduous commute to school take more time and energy from students who happen to live farther from their place of education.

I understand there is no school parking lot, and that Tappan Street has spots reserved for teachers, but that poses the question – where else are students expected to park in an urban-suburban community where the school has no dedicated parking lot? Why is there a no- parking zone in the first place during the hours of 7 to 9 a.m. on the neighboring streets of the school?

Some could argue that these restrictions exist to protect the residents and property; however, this explanation does not hold up to the smallest amount of scrutiny. In other parts of Brookline, the only parking limits are a ban on parking overnight, as it interferes with street-sweeping, a completely reasonable ban, given the justification. There is no explicit reason for this ban on parking for students, which is the result of a 7 to 9 a.m. The simple fact is that if a student blocks a driveway or a hydrant, they can call a tow company and have the car towed, teaching them a very valuable and expensive lesson. There is no need for a parking ban on an otherwise perfectly legal and safe street.

In addition, many of these residents are retired or leave for work in Boston early, meaning the restrictions don’t seem to benefit them either. One could claim the parking ban makes it safer for student drop-off in the morning. However, while this may apply to the bottom of Sumner and all of Tappan Street, on which parking is banned until 3 p.m., nobody gets dropped off on Clark, and very few get dropped off on the top of Sumner. Why then would parking be barred there, too?

Over the past month, I’ve heard countless stories of my peers receiving $30 tickets for trying to get to school on time. This is frustrating, unfair and discouraging. The current rules put students in an impossible situation; either risk being late to class or risk being ticketed. This doesn’t just affect punctuality; it now impacts tardies, wallets, learning and overall student well-being and mental health. My A-block is Spanish, and at the beginning of each class, we start with the agenda and the upcoming quizzes and tests. Those who are late, including myself, have missed those reminders.

We need solutions that recognize the realities of student commutes, the lack of parking infrastructure and the challenges of getting to school safely and on time. I understand there is no room for a school parking lot, but the town could consider alternatives, such as temporary student parking permits based on where you live or adjusting the no-parking hours. The current system does not serve students, and a small adjustment could make a big difference in daily life.