By: Liz Pfannes @lilliz121
How many days are students late to school due to being unable to find parking at Boone High? The student front lot has been cut down to half of what it used to be. The new lot right next to the school, as well as the triangle lot to the North of the school, and half of the big lot in front of the school has been for the teachers. What is left for the students to park is a fair distance away due to all the doors being locked except for the office ones. With the fact that many students are in sports and extracurricular activities, carrying bags needed for those activities on a long walk just to get to the school is not reasonable.
There are 737 students enrolled in Boone High, and just over 100 staff members, yet they have more parking than they can use. Often the teacher parking is partially empty, while the student backlot is packed full, and students are parking in spots without lines just to make it to class on time.
When it’s zero degrees out, 100 degrees, pouring rain, snowing, backpack full of books, a chromebook, a gym bag, students still have to walk from the back lot. We are subjected to this everyday. Principal Byam joins the students for football games in the student section, and post games, yet when it comes to parking, we are supposed to remember that the staff are more important. Before the new school was built, the problems with parking were next to none.
Teachers have a total of 134 parking stalls. During third hour, the count for used stalls on September 28 was 84. That is 62% of the teacher parking being used. Some teachers carpool and some walk. The lot closest to the school doors on the west side was only 85% full at the time of third hour. At this same time students have 234 parking stalls for over 700 students, and every single stall was full as well as places that are not even parking stalls. There are about seven times as many students as staff. Taking into account that many Freshman don’t drive or that some students may carpool, there are still about five times as many students driving to the number of teachers driving. The parking lots for teachers sit there partially empty, this is a waste of those spots.
“I see students parked in spaces that are not even actual spaces. Students park in grassy areas behind the lot, too. It is a little ridiculous that Boone High’s parking lots have turned into battle zones for students.” said Junior Libby Penick. By 7:30am, every lot besides the back lot is usually full, and some students who live in the country or a good distance from the school, or have younger siblings to drop off, cannot make it to the school early enough to get a parking spot. This causes many students to be late.
It is understandable that the triangle parking lot was taken away as a punishment for not parking correctly, but if we had a fair amount of parking for the amount of students within a reasonable distance from the school, students would not be parking like that. There are 32 parking spots in the triangle lot, with only 15 of them being used, those spots should be used or given back to the students.
Senior Nathanial Brown says “Freshman and Sophomores are here all day and do not have open campus, it would be a good solution to designate them to park in the back lot and Upper Classmen who have open campus get the closer lots. That would fix the problem of being late as well as never being able to find a spot.” We spend eight hours a day here, this is what shapes us, and the administration should remember that being treated as equals will shape us for the better. Students and teachers should have equal parking rights. Students and staff alike are all here all day.
A solution for the entire problem would be to give students either the entire front lot back or the triangle lot. The teacher’s side of the front lot has 66 stalls, with only 38 of them being used. Another fair solution would be to return to the way it was before when all the teachers parked in the west lot. There is a total of 91 parking stalls when all cars are parked only within the lines. When only 84 of the parking stalls the teachers are allotted are being used, this would be sufficient to hold the staff, and then allow for any extra. The other lots could be given to the students. If need be, the lot right by the school as well could still be used for staff. There are a total of 34 stalls in that lot, those two lots together would provide enough for the teachers. The students could have the triangle lot, the front lot, and the back lot, giving them a total of 241 parking stalls, which though only being a small difference in the amount, the distance is more reasonable.
Each student would like to be heard and understood on this issue, and a change needs to be made. We ask only for a fair and reasonable handling of the situation, which has not been addressed properly. The only thing that has been addressed to this point is the fact of students parking incorrectly, or in teacher parking. The issue is still at hand that there is not enough parking for the number of students who drive.
There are 737 students enrolled in Boone High, and just over 100 staff members, yet they have more parking than they can use. Often the teacher parking is partially empty, while the student backlot is packed full, and students are parking in spots without lines just to make it to class on time.
When it’s zero degrees out, 100 degrees, pouring rain, snowing, backpack full of books, a chromebook, a gym bag, students still have to walk from the back lot. We are subjected to this everyday. Principal Byam joins the students for football games in the student section, and post games, yet when it comes to parking, we are supposed to remember that the staff are more important. Before the new school was built, the problems with parking were next to none.
Teachers have a total of 134 parking stalls. During third hour, the count for used stalls on September 28 was 84. That is 62% of the teacher parking being used. Some teachers carpool and some walk. The lot closest to the school doors on the west side was only 85% full at the time of third hour. At this same time students have 234 parking stalls for over 700 students, and every single stall was full as well as places that are not even parking stalls. There are about seven times as many students as staff. Taking into account that many Freshman don’t drive or that some students may carpool, there are still about five times as many students driving to the number of teachers driving. The parking lots for teachers sit there partially empty, this is a waste of those spots.
“I see students parked in spaces that are not even actual spaces. Students park in grassy areas behind the lot, too. It is a little ridiculous that Boone High’s parking lots have turned into battle zones for students.” said Junior Libby Penick. By 7:30am, every lot besides the back lot is usually full, and some students who live in the country or a good distance from the school, or have younger siblings to drop off, cannot make it to the school early enough to get a parking spot. This causes many students to be late.
It is understandable that the triangle parking lot was taken away as a punishment for not parking correctly, but if we had a fair amount of parking for the amount of students within a reasonable distance from the school, students would not be parking like that. There are 32 parking spots in the triangle lot, with only 15 of them being used, those spots should be used or given back to the students.
Senior Nathanial Brown says “Freshman and Sophomores are here all day and do not have open campus, it would be a good solution to designate them to park in the back lot and Upper Classmen who have open campus get the closer lots. That would fix the problem of being late as well as never being able to find a spot.” We spend eight hours a day here, this is what shapes us, and the administration should remember that being treated as equals will shape us for the better. Students and teachers should have equal parking rights. Students and staff alike are all here all day.
A solution for the entire problem would be to give students either the entire front lot back or the triangle lot. The teacher’s side of the front lot has 66 stalls, with only 38 of them being used. Another fair solution would be to return to the way it was before when all the teachers parked in the west lot. There is a total of 91 parking stalls when all cars are parked only within the lines. When only 84 of the parking stalls the teachers are allotted are being used, this would be sufficient to hold the staff, and then allow for any extra. The other lots could be given to the students. If need be, the lot right by the school as well could still be used for staff. There are a total of 34 stalls in that lot, those two lots together would provide enough for the teachers. The students could have the triangle lot, the front lot, and the back lot, giving them a total of 241 parking stalls, which though only being a small difference in the amount, the distance is more reasonable.
Each student would like to be heard and understood on this issue, and a change needs to be made. We ask only for a fair and reasonable handling of the situation, which has not been addressed properly. The only thing that has been addressed to this point is the fact of students parking incorrectly, or in teacher parking. The issue is still at hand that there is not enough parking for the number of students who drive.
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