The Meaning Behind the Change
Two weeks before the start of the school year, students and families received an email regarding the first week of school.
Attached to that email was updated parking information, which relayed the news that starting on the first school day, there would no longer be a designated senior parking lot.
Instead, the parking lots will be open to students of all grades. Administration made this change for three reasons: changing CAPS student schedules, upcoming construction and refocusing the attention of the SROs.
Stating 20-30 spots will be open during the day due to CAPS students coming and going, the brief loss of parking spaces from construction may not be a big complication if students can fill the empty spots in the senior lot.
Additionally, the SROs can now focus more on their roles in student safety inside the building than outside it.
However, this abrupt change led to outrage from the community, sparking a petition on Change.org with over 275 signatures and multiple emails to BV administration.
Concerned about the safety issues this would cause, especially for inexperienced teenage drivers and the breaking of the long-standing tradition, many believe this was not the right solution. There has yet been any discussion of changes or alternative solutions.
The President’s Perspective
As this parking situation has caused different reactions from the student population, executive president Omar Hamarshi shared his thoughts on the issue.
“I worry that this system is going to have an impact on tardies and absences — finding a spot will be more difficult as you have to circle through so much space,” he said. “While many students will accommodate, I think this can be a barrier for students who sometimes don’t want to come to school”
Many concerns have been raised about the overall traffic patterns and if this new system will cause issues with dismissal.
“The movement out of the lots is an intricate method that takes time to learn,” he said. “It is a lot more simple coming out of those back lots, but less experienced drivers are going to be forced to learn that pattern in the closer lots. All of us are going to have to bear the burden of that learning curve.”
With discussions surrounding the recent changes to our parking system, it is important to address the underlying concerns raised by administration.
“Something I would like to clarify on behalf of the administration, while I am of the opinion that this isn’t the most elegant solution to the problem, I do think there is more of a security concern with our old parking system,” Hamarshi said. “Something a lot of students do not realize is how much effort managing the lot divide is for our SROs. Being forced to mediate constant disagreements between frustrated students is extremely time consuming, and frankly not worth their time. While BVHS is among the safest schools in our state, we are not immune to the need for people in charge of school security.”
Hamarshi believes as a school, we will get through this issue by speaking up when needed.
“Our school administration cannot see into the future any better than us students, and I know a change as big as this is going to be under constant observation by our administration,” Hamarshi said. “We need to be the voices for the state of the parking situation. If you are noticing a serious problem that you feel has not been addressed, it is on you to bring that up to someone important.”
