By Lauren Shin, Staff Writer
With a new administration comes new rules, some of which students weren’t expecting. How are students feeling about the new parking permit and its regulations?
Each school year, upperclassmen fill up the student parking lot. While students begin to trickle into their parking spots early in the morning, others find themselves rushing in at the last minute before the bell.
Assistant Principal Mr. Penn explains that the expectations regarding student parking have been reinforced due to the lack of emphasis last school year on students parking in their appropriate spaces.
“With the parking passes, it makes it easier for staff to identify who is allowed to park and to make sure that students who only have their learners permit are not driving to school just because they can,” he said.
He also mentioned that admin needs to “make sure that students understand the responsibilities that come with driving to school, such as abiding by the 10 miles per hour speed limit and coming to school on time.”
Mr. Penn explains that he “[combs] through the parking lot once a week, just to make sure that students have their parking permits displayed. We want to put a strong emphasis on attendance as well, because the philosophy is that if you want to take on the responsibility of driving to school, then you have to take on the responsibility of coming on time. If you are late, we may have to look into alternative transportation methods that will get you to school on time.”
Arriving to school at the last minute tends to be the root cause of various parking issues. Administrators are attempting to ensure that no mishaps occur as a result of disorderly behavior by setting down stricter rules.
Students are allowed up to 5 unexcused tardies per quarter. After the fifth tardy, students’ parking privileges may be revoked.
Senior Megan Iacobellis expressed that she “[doesn’t] feel the difference from last year,” regarding stricter parking policies. Having attained her license as early as possible, Megan has been driving herself to school since her junior year.
“I get here pretty early every morning, so that might be why, but I really don’t think there’s any issue in the parking lot,” she explained. “The new admin did seem to be really strict on students having their parking permits and parking in the right spot, though. I didn’t have my permit in my car by the first week and I got scared they would get mad at me.”
Juniors Gabby Bergstrom and Morgan Downing agreed that they could feel the administration tightening their regulations, but they feel neutral about the new rules.
Gabby recalled, “They mentioned taking away permits after repeatedly being late or forgetting to follow a rule, which was kind of scary, honestly. I’m usually early but what if I run late a few times and I can’t park at school anymore, especially since I’ll be a returning senior next year so I don’t want to get onto their radar.”
Morgan added that she is “worried about kids who get licenses in the middle of the year. I’m looking forward to getting my parking permit later on after the seniors leave, but also scared that I might not be a good driver and will get in trouble for bad parking.”
According to the administrators during the first week of school assembly, around 250 of 300 parking spaces are occupied.
Aysegul, a senior, says that “there is no difference with the new rules. It was just that last year, a lot of people parked where they shouldn’t be parking and didn’t have their parking permits in their cars, which they should have had.”
Overall, students agree that these are understandable rules, although they may feel stricter to some students than what they may be used to from previous years.
As we welcome all the new administration and staff members to River Hill and upperclassmen to the student parking lot, we must all work together to respect one another’s needs and regulations.