Waking up in the morning and getting ready for school isn’t hard enough, but trying to navigate through the Westview parking lot in the early morning is even worse. But what’s the worst possible time of day for all students?
3:05.
But a new school year should lead to new improvements.
Last year, senior students were filled with rage and frustration due to problems that occurred with their allocated parking lot. In previous years when Westview did not have seniors, the eldest students in the building took their place.
The class of 2025.
These students started out as sophomores in the building and were given certain rights as a thank you for uprooting their high school experience to start a new school.
One amenity that junior students were awarded last year was the chance to park in the senior lot with all underclassmen to park in the junior lot located near the football field.
When I interviewed Scott Peters, the Westview activities director, last year he specified how the parking lot was supposed to look and how it will look in the 2024-2025 school year.
“Our junior students are supposed to park in the senior lot and next year they will stay in that lot. All freshmen and sophomores are supposed to park in the junior lot,” Activities Director Scott Peters said in 2024.
Since we have entered the 2024-2025 school year, the parking lots should look different. Senior students would finally have the privilege to be the only people parking in the senior lot.
Or so we thought.
Senior students still face the nuisance of other classes parking in our lot. It should be noted that students must have a parking pass if they are parking in a lot.
Any student that chooses to drive to Westview High School and park in a Westview parking lot must obtain a school parking permit. These permits can be bought at the back-to-school orientation and throughout the year in the main office.
Located in the Westview student code of conduct on page 8, it reads, “All students who drive to school and use the school parking lot MUST register their vehicle(s), secure a parking permit, at a cost of $20 per year. A completed registration from must be placed on file in the office.”
One thing that I have noticed in the senior parking lot is that underclassmen have been turning their passes so that security guards cannot notice the difference in the passes. Senior students have blue parking passes that specify that they are for senior parking while underclassmen have orange passes.
At back-to-school orientation, students were to specify which grade they were in to make sure that they got the right pass.
“I don’t care if they are parking there, but that is only because I have an early out and I am not trapped at the end of the day with all the other grades, now if I didn’t have an early out I would care that they park there,” Eve Rouch, 12 said. “I’m fine with them parking at the back, but only the back, not where the painted spots are,” Rouch added.
Peters explained that with these new improvements to the parking lots, students should have better experiences in the parking lot and be able to relieve lots of stress.
“We worked hard to help give the seniors these amenities and hope that underclassmen follow through,” Peters said.
Senior students expressed their gratitude for the change as well.
“I believe the senior parking lot has changed for the better this year. Being able to paint our spots and use our creativity was not only fun but reduced the stress of trying to find a spot in the morning,” Allison White, 12 said.
White also explained how she feels our administration’s efforts worked.
“I think Mr. Peters and Mr. Lee are making a decent effort but I think to further the message we could spread the word by posting more about it on social media and putting that reminder in the weekly emails,” White said.
Junior students explain that with the crackdown on parking and passes they are more willing to park in the junior lot.
“I just don’t want to get a ticket and maybe get towed, it is not really worth it to me,” Tierney Carman, 11 said, “I know some juniors still do but they try to park more in the back,” Carman said.
One struggle students still face and cannot seem to catch a break from is parking lot parents.
Every day, students fight against parents who believe they can pick and drop their student off in the senior lot instead of waiting in the drop-off lane as the procedure is.
Personally, I have faced some of these problems, even to the extent of parents getting out of their vehicle to berate me for parking in my lot and following the rules that my school put in place for me.
The last time I checked, parents are supposed to follow protocol and drop and pick up their student in the drop off lane. As well as not parking in spots that students paid upwards of 100 dollars for.
Rules apply to everyone. It’s common courtesy.
For me, I have early outs each day but I must come back to school for practice and since I already have my own spot that I should be able to park there. Not in the teacher lot, the YMCA lot or anywhere else since I already paid a hefty fee for my own spot.
Even if a spot that is painted is empty, I believe the courtesy is to leave it open no matter what.
With concerns of the YMCA lot last year, efforts have been made to leave notes on cars to help prevent them from taking teacher spots as staff have assigned spots as well.
These efforts have helped tremendously with leaving spaces for teachers which then clears spots for students.
Through the 2024-2025 school year these changes have already shown dramatic positive progress, and we can only hope they will continue to show more progress.
