For many seniors at Big Sky High School, the day starts with circling the parking lot looking for an open spot that rarely exists. 

A lot of us don’t have first period classes, so showing up two to three hours early just to get a parking spot doesn’t make sense. So when we do show up and the student lots are full, that leaves the visitor parking lot. The front row is clearly marked for staff, with the back rows marked for visitors. Students who park in the back of the visitor lot still get in trouble for “parking in the teacher lot,” even though the staff spots are in the front row. 

The school also has a separate staff parking lot which is rarely full but still off limits to students. 

The rules just don’t match how the lots are actually used. 

I personally experienced this confusion. After parking in the back of the visitor lot, I was called out of class and told I was blocking a teacher’s parking spot. The spot I used was not in the front row. I specifically parked in the back row because I knew the front was for teachers. After getting told I was blocking a teacher’s spot, I expressed I was unaware it was a teacher’s spot, as the lot sign says staff parking in the first row only. I then was told the whole lot was reserved for staff only. 

Situations like this make it unclear where students are actually expected to park when the student lot is full. This issue affects many seniors and other students who arrive later in the day. The student lot fills quickly and the visitor lot is treated as off-limits to students. For many students, these rules make getting to class more stressful than it needs to be.

Administrators and teachers often tell students who can’t find student parking to park at Fort Missoula or along nearby roads, but parking at Fort Missoula requires a long walk to school and forces students to cross South Ave W, which can be dangerous, especially during busy morning traffic. This extra distance can also make students late for class. 

Road parking is another option students are told to use, but those spots fill up quickly as well. On many mornings, there are no open spaces left on the road. 

From conversations with other students, this issue seems to be affecting many upperclassmen. A lot of students are unsure what the actual parking rules are, especially when it comes to the visitors lot. The back of the lot often has open spaces yet students still worry about getting in trouble for using them. 

Being pulled out of class because of parking in the visitor lot by the front office wastes student time, teacher time and administrator time. When a student is removed from class, instruction is interrupted, teachers have to pause lessons or assessments, and administrators are spending time on an issue that could be avoided with clearer policies. This creates unnecessary distractions in the classroom. When I was pulled out of my sixth period government class during a test , I had only finished half of the test. By the time I returned, there were only a couple minutes left of class and I wasn’t able to finish my test. Because of that, I had to stay after class and finish it. Even though I was able to finish it, it was frustrating that a simple parking issue took away from my class time and added unnecessary stress to my day. 

Big Sky’s parking imbalance also plays a role in this confusion. Teachers have access to four different parking lots, two smaller lots in the back of the school and two in the front. Many students are grateful to even have a parking lot especially considering that one of the high schools in Missoula has little to no student parking available, however having one large student lot does not eliminate the problem when it fills early and no clear backup options exist.

The issue isn’t students ignoring rules. It’s that the rules don’t fully account for how parking works during the school day. A clearer parking policy would help. Allowing students to use the back rows of the visitor lot once the student lot is full, or clearly explaining where students are allowed to park, would reduce stress and make expectations clearer for everyone at Big Sky.