Driving to Eaglecrest high school is a mess. My brother and I drive to the back parking every morning. It is a ten-minute process. When we finally reach the parking lot it is very difficult to find a parking spot. I blame the staff members who decide to take a student parking spot, even when they have their own lot that has empty spots every day.

The staff parking lot has plenty of space for all of the staff at a reasonable distance from an entrance. Yet, they get to school first and park front row in student parking lots. There is no reason for staff to need to take a student parking spot.

Amanda Smith, a Senior, said, “Teachers parking in the student lots grinds my gears. It’s just annoying because they have a lot specifically for them and take away spots that could’ve been used by a student. There are times where I have had to park in the neighborhood and walk to school because there weren’t any spots left in both student sections and I didn’t want to get a ticket.”

The students receive a ticket for parking in the staff lot, but staff members do not receive any consequence for parking in the student lot. “Why is that okay for them to park in our spots and then we can’t park in theirs? There are too many students at our school for them to be able to park in our lot and then us to get punished when we park in theirs because they took up the room in ours,” said Liberty Ford, a Junior.

Students pay fifty dollars a year to get the privilege of driving and parking at our school. The staff gets to park without charge. Students are required to stay in our lots. Staff members can park wherever.

“They have their own lots, and they should only be parking in student lots as a last option,” said, Margot Holley, a Sophomore.

The students of Eaglecrest are asking for an open discussion on how to improve parking experience for everyone. We should make the back staff lot into a Seniors lot. Seniors would pay a seventy five dollar fee and get to decorate their assigned spot. They would be required to clean the spot at the end of the year. Then staff pays ten dollars to receive an assigned spots in the front rows by the mobiles or in the lot by the front theatre lot. This would make our parking situation a better environment for all. These improvements are simple to enact and enforce. This would add a great new tradition for our Seniors and make the staff’s lives easier.