With a rising number of students comes more teenage drivers. The parking lots are filled to capacity every morning, and many students arrive earlier each day to insure a parking spot to avoid parking on the streets and having to walk to even get to school making them have to rush just to get to class on time.

The fear of being late or getting caught in the rain has caused students to either parking in red zones or senior parking spots that are reserved for the seniors who paid for that specific spot.

“Overtime, it has become a problem with more students here,” said Ginter.

Some students even park illegally, blocking the fire lanes in the overflow parking lot. Emergency vehicles can’t get through if the students are parked in these red zones in case of an emergency.

There are many hazards that come with parking illegally on campus. It also blocks other cars from entering and or exiting the overflow lot which can cause accidents and damage to cars.

The vice principals and principal monitor parking in the overflow by walking up and down the lot to ensure students are parking the correct way.

“We had a fire marshal do an inspection of the school and one of the things he noticed was we have a lot of areas of the parking lot that are marked off as fire zones and we had 30 to 40 students parking in fire zones,” said Ginter. “He let us know that he will periodically have either officers or fire marshals check.”

The first time a student is caught parking illegally by school staff they will be given a warning, but if it continues to happen they will be assigned a detention.

The school administratio+n can easily run the student’s license plate and have the DMV contact their parents.

“We were proactively trying to give kids warnings and notices that they can’t park there,” said Ginter. “We were trying to be out there and just let kids know where they should park and should not be able to park.”

There are announcements over the loudspeaker during fourth period that have warned students of potential consequences like, getting fined or possible towing of their car.

The school administration tries to give students a warning first because they know most of the students are new drivers and still have a lot to learn, but they also want to ensure that the school is a safe and accessible place in case of an emergency where law enforcement or firefighters need to enter the parking lots.

By enforcing these parking lot rules, it can actually give students knowledge for future situations outside of school when it comes to parking in busy places like downtown for instance.

Some students have even decided to start carpooling so they don’t have to worry about finding a spot in the mornings, and doing this could help the parking lot congestion in the mornings and after school.