If you are a student driver, you are aware of the parking changes made over the week of October 23rd.

    According to an email sent out by EHS administration, students must now park in either the southeast lot or the northwest lot due to traffic issues during morning bus routes. Ultimately this means that students can no longer park in the northeast parking lot which is now reserved for faculty and bus routes. This has been the cause of much debate and tension in the halls of EHS during November.

   Due to the changes in start times this year, bus drivers run elementary school routes first, then high school, and finally middle school bus routes. As Eaglecrest is in the middle of this route and is therefore impacting elementary school traffic while our bus turnover time, in turn, impacts middle schools.

   At the most basic level, it comes down to students and parents blocking the way for the busses making them late when picking up middle schoolers.

   Many would see this as an easy fix and harmless in effect. As a matter of fact, some teachers believe that it’s not that big of a deal.

   However, many students are upset that there is much more traffic now getting in and out of the newly designated student parking lots with many more spots now taken up with the loss of the bus loop. Student Diane Alonso commented on the situation.

   “The parking lot is just making me late sometimes,” she said. “This is the reality for many EHS student drivers. With lines being outstandingly long, some students are left leaving campus at 3:50pm to 4:00pm.”

   Some students are experiencing problems even deeper than that. “If students park in staff lots, they get fined. While staff doesn’t get fined for parking in student lots. If we are going to enforce new rules, they need to be enforced for everyone,” commented Elizabeth Groves.

   “I paid $50 to be able to park at school, and now I can’t because there aren’t enough student spaces”, said Groves.

   Most students are frustrated, as staff are still parking in the section of the parking lot reserved for students, leaving students without a space to park and in consequence with a parking ticket.

   While some teachers and staff members use the reserved parking spaces just as a convenience, others use them for an easier way to transport school supplies, pick up Little Raptors, etc.

   Giving valid reasons to both sides of the argument, whether teachers should be allowed to park in the student section or not.

   “It’s hard for us as a teacher to walk across a long parking lot, as well as carrying supplies for your class,” said Mrs. Kemp.

   All of this leaves students like Dagim Bekele with the thought, “Some students end up parking in the teachers section, and some teachers need to end up parking in the student section. Why not get rid of parking tickets in general like Grandview?”

   The truth of the matter is, this is a complicated situation and new to everyone involved. As student Noah Skinner said, “If we are the caring and sharing high school that we say we are, we should all be able to share parking spots.”