Every morning, students arrive at school not only anxious about a test or homework, but also about where they parked their car.
In a world centered around cars, organized and available parking is necessary; yet, the high school lacks this. As a result, students face parking trouble. Two of the biggest issues include pricey parking tickets and students taking spots that they shouldn’t (residential, teacher, etc). Our parking problem complicates the lives of high schoolers, teachers and nearby residents. It’s crucial that we find a solution to this chaotic parking situation so that students aren’t worried about where they will park, and so they don’t occupy teacher or residential parking spots.
Entire roads of student-parked cars will frequently get $30 parking tickets stuck onto their side mirrors or windshields. These tickets add up quickly. Within a week, two students at the high school told me they got ticketed two times. If this trend continues from September to June, it would result in a sum of around $1500.
This is far too much money to be paying to park, and it’s unfair to these students. It’s not their fault they live in an area that is far from campus and inaccessible by public transportation. Hundreds of high school students come from the Ridley, Hayes or Baker districts, and they do not have reliable transportation except in rare cases where their parents can drive them every morning.
Most of these schools do not have a Green Line D-train stop close by, or school buses for transport. And as of recently, the school bus that goes by Hayes has been paused. Additionally, the bus that comes from South Brookline leaves at around 7:40 a.m., which some South Brookline students say is too early and inconvenient.
It’s not realistic to ask all students to walk or take some form of public transport. It doesn’t feel logical to me to take an extra 30 minutes out of my morning to walk to school or to the train/bus stop, especially when it takes me just 10-20 minutes to drive. Winnie Lin, a junior who drives to school, said, “I feel like I have to wake up earlier so I can find a good spot, and it’s hard to do this since junior year is really busy and I have to stay up late doing my homework.” High school students are already sleep deprived; needing to get up early to find parking only worsens this.
The system we have in place now is difficult for students as well as problematic for teachers and residents. Because students don’t have designated places to park, many end up taking spots that are reserved for teachers or residents. Many teachers find themselves with no place to park, causing daily frustrations. And residents face a lack of security, not knowing if their designated parking spot is taken. Residents also face their driveways being blocked as students try to squeeze into the limited parking spaces.
Creating efficient parking for students may be a huge project, but it brings massive benefits to students who struggle with parking every day. One potential solution is to designate parking spots on residential roads for students.
It may be easier said than done to implement student parking, due to town zoning laws and overall expense, but our current parking “system” is far too faulty to be a long-term situation. As a student body, we must push for changes. Reporting the problem to Student Council is one potential path to gaining attention to the parking issues at the high school. Advocacy like this will hopefully lead to meaningful action to ensure sufficient parking.
