After the completion of Miller Field, a new construction project at SRHS has caused another parking crisis. The entire right half of the front parking lot is dedicated to staff parking only. Students are angry because they believe they are not being given adequate parking, and teachers are frustrated because students end up taking their spots in the tennis court parking lot.

Will Mosher, a senior at SRHS, says, “The parking situation is such a disaster that I avoid even attempting to park in the front lot. I park up on the hill behind the school and I think it’s ridiculous because there are plenty of spots in the tennis court parking lot and apparently I’m not allowed to use them.”  

Will, along with many other students, points out that there are plenty of staff spots that remain open all day while students are forced to fight over the limited spots allocated to them. This has affected the education of some students.

“I have been late to class before because I could not find a spot while there were open staff spots. It took me a long time to find a spot near the school,” says Nick Courteau, a SRHS senior.

Many students believe that there is a relatively simple fix to the SRHS parking problem. They believe that if the staff spots were open to students, the seniors would be able to park in the lots, thus allowing the juniors to find more parking on the streets. The administration has provided a reason for not doing this.

“We have staff coming and going all day and we need to keep those spots open for them,” says Ms. Rodriguez, who is in charge of the parking permits for seniors.

However, some students like Jack Cottrell combat this by saying that, “if a teacher has a prep period and chooses to come to school late, [he or she] can leave the house a little earlier to leave time for finding a spot on the street.”

Students also point out that many teachers regularly arrive at school early anyway so by the time students get to school, they should be able to park in the remaining spots.

The construction downtown has made the commutes of many students longer than usual. This combined with exhaustion from school and extracurricular activities makes it very difficult to arrive to school early, some seniors say.

As juniors, the class of 2019 was able to find parking off-campus, whether on Mission Avenue or Point San Pedro Road, because seniors had spots in the front lot. Juniors are not allowed to park in the front lot, but this rule is not enforced very well. However, with the limited student spots in the front lot, seniors have had to resort to finding spots on the street also, leaving the juniors with even less parking spaces.

A SRHS junior, Gibson Hoch, says, “[Juniors] park on Jewel Street where many neighbors have complained directly to students, as well as tickets have been given.”

This frustration has even spread to teachers. Some students, fearful of being late to class, have resorted to parking in the tennis court parking lots, where student parking restrictions are more relaxed. This causes some teachers to lose their assigned parking spots. Ms. Pikk, a SRHS science teacher, is affected by this.

“I am so stressed out about parking that I arrive here at 6:45 to park on the street and I even have my own parking spot.”

Parking permits that were passed out to seniors back in September stated that there would be no parking for students in the front parking lot during the Tree Lot, but now that the Tree Lot is being set up there is indeed parking in the front lot.

A part of the parking lot that was previously fenced off due to construction was opened for people to park in. “This is a better solution,” says Elizabeth O’Reilly. Although the parking lot situation is improved, it is still not the perfect solution.

Juniors are still parking in the front lot, taking spots away from seniors, and staff spots are still open every day. Students are frustrated with the current parking solutions and would like to see a change.