This year, Verrado is becoming more strict on its parking rules, threatening to tow or boot cars that are parked without a pass. Verrado has also decided to make all of the parking spots unassigned to individual people. This means that if you have purchased a parking pass, anyone can park anywhere on the student parking side.
Last year, the parking rules were a little different. Students were assigned to a parking spot and could only park their registered vehicle there. Many students agree that the rules last year were better. Instead of having to find a parking space in the morning, you already had an assigned place that you knew no one could take. Some students just liked having a spot just for them.
One student, Damian, said, “I feel like having assigned spots is so much easier, you don’t need to worry about finding a spot or painting it.”
Towards the start of last year, the school also gave students the option to paint the asphalt on their parking space. However, the school provided no paint to the students. None of the students wanted to paint their spaces because the type of paint required to be used was very expensive. This year none of the students will be able to paint parking spaces because there are no assigned spots.
While this is not a tradition at our school, some students, like Christopher, have said, “Honestly I probably wouldn’t paint my spot, but it would be cool to see other kids paint their parking spot”.
Some students however prefer the new rules, Kaitlynn said, “Having no assigned spots is way better. My spot last year was terrible so I’m glad I can park wherever now.”
The new parking rules also make security’s job easier.
According to Mr. Willey, VHS security guard, “I think this year is better…last year was a pain in the butt. People, you know, parked in other people’s spots and we would have to go and find that person…It’s a lot less work for me. Get here early enough that you can park wherever you want.”
“Cameras are really good,” said Nick, a security guard at Verrado High School. It allows the admin to identify any car that got hit or the car that caused the accident, allowing Verrado Students to rest easy in a parking lot full of new drivers.
However, there were several advantages to having assigned parking spots for security.
According to Ms. Witney, having assigned parking “helped us (security) keep track of kids…say you’re spot number 123, I know you’re not here today because your spot is empty…it also helped if someone was in your spot.”
There are pros and cons to the new parking rules this year, but only time will tell if this is an improvement from last year or a bad mistake.
