Starting in the spring of this year a major construction project has been underway to create a new space in the engineering wing. With the number of machines and employees needed daily, the job requires multiple parking spaces lining the back of the COVID-Lot. In March, the former principal Dan Ryan stated in a Warrior Weekly announcement that “this construction will not be nearly as disruptive as our last bond”, however, what seemed like a minor change rippled out to become an annoying challenge for the entire student body.
One of the downsides of driving to school is that if you plan on parking at the school, you need to buy a pass that costs $50 yearly. On top of that, every year the class sizes for Seniors and Juniors keeps increasing, leading to the number of students outnumbering the parking spots available. According to the U.S. News Report , the class of 2025 alone has roughly 360 students and the amount of parking passes sold this year was already less than that. Before the school year had even begun, passes were all sold out and everyone who didn’t get one was forced to find another way like carpooling. In another announcement from Warrior Weekly, the newest principal Mrs. Caroll stated “We are sold out of student parking passes. We are unsure if new spots will become available in the wake of construction, but if they do, I will let you know. I encourage students and families to carpool if possible”. There wasn’t a given solution and students were left in fear of getting ticketed for not having a pass. Many students participate in after-school activities and need to keep their practice gear in their car, while others need to drive straight from school to their activities. This is why simply suggesting carpooling is not a viable solution as every student has different needs and many require a personal parking spot to achieve them.
Another addition to Centaurus was the implementation of a fire lane on Warrior Way. This removed another three or four parking spots from a common parking space for those without passes, losing even more available parking for students. There has been a clear trend of decreasing spots for students and no real help offered by the school. The lack of space forces students to spend extra minutes circling the parking lot looking for an available spot, only for them to have to park way down on Warrior Way and be late for their next class. This is an issue that truly should be addressed with the school, as it is putting stress on the student driver and leading to more issues such as tardiness.
The issue of not having a relatively equal parking spot-to-student ratio is unfortunately not new. In the spring of every school year, the grades of driving students rise from just Juniors and Seniors to some Sophomores as well, and there is simply not enough space for the amount of people that need it. Last school year, students were forced to find parking wherever they could, parking on top of medians and in grassy areas. When they were ticketed for not having a parking pass, they were not offered a solution of where to go otherwise. It seems as if this is an issue that hasn’t been addressed even though it is a source of great challenge at CHS.
Recently a change has occurred over the past couple of weeks. The idea of having diagonal parking spots would not only create more space, but would lead to far fewer accidents as well, and possibly decrease the hoard of traffic to get out of the parking lot at the end of the day. The school has not mentioned anything publicly, but numbered diagonal red lines have been placed across the entirety of the lot. The parking lot problem at CHS is one that needs to be addressed as currently the amount of spots is just not sustainable for the increasing number of students the school gains each year.
The parking lot problem is an important issue at CHS because it affects everyone in the school and discussion about solutions is presently needed. This issue will continue to grow as the number of students increases making the lot even more limited. One recommendation is changing the layout of the parking lot to diagonal spaces or creating new parking areas as options for students. Until then, if you want to get a spot, continue to arrive 10 minutes early and cross your fingers, just maybe you will get lucky.
