Every year students are required to make sure that they get a parking pass in order to park in the student parking lot. You are required to keep that pass as long as you drive and go to school here at Big Sky-High School. If you lose it, you are required to pay 5 dollars for a new one. Without the parking pass you get a ticket. You can also get a ticket if you park in the teachers or parents parking lot. This would be good for teaching responsibility, however there is an issue with the parents parking in our parking lot.

Every year, whenever the track season starts up and we have track meets here at Big Sky, the parents crowd into the student parking lot. Us students have to choose between not going out for lunch or parking at the Fort and walking back. The part that is the most annoying is them taking our parking spots if we leave campus. We take the time out of our day to get a parking pass so we don’t get a ticket, only for the parents to park freely without getting ticked.

We are required to attend school and be on time if we want good grades and to not get into trouble. Some students have to run home or other places during lunch for personal reasons. Some people live a distance away from the school and must drive there, do what they need to, get something to eat and then be back at school in 45 min. Traffic alone takes up time, depending on the route you take, how long it takes to drive there and the time it takes to get out of the parking lot. If you were not the first people out of the parking lot it could take about 15 min to 20 minutes to get out. This leaves a small window of time to get to class after we get back from wherever we go.

Parking in the students parking lot gives us less of a distance to walk. This way it will take about 3 to 5 minutes to get to class. If we have to park at the fort, we would have to add in some extra walking time. It would take about 10 minutes to get back to the school, from the fort. This could cause students to become late for their next class.

Another frustrating thing is how long it takes to even find a parking spot. If you get back at a good time it could take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. Arriving later can cause you to take longer to find a parking spot. With parents taking our spots it increases the difficulty of finding a sport to park. Then it becomes first come first serve for the spots.

All the parents taking up the parking spots increases the amount of time it takes to find a parking spot, if there is even one available. If not then you have to go to the fort and walk back to the school. The process all together could take up to anywhere from 10 to 20, maybe even 30 minutes. This depends on the time you get back, how many cars are moving around the parking lot, availability of spots to park, whether or not you have to back track to the fort, and how long it takes to get to class.

In conclusion parents should not be allowed to park in the student parking lot. We take the time and responsibility to get a parking pass and keep it for three years, are required to go to school and already have a hard time with the parking lot. Overall, we don’t need the parents adding on to the craziness of the parking lot.