Recently parent drop-off is becoming more and more problematic for student drivers. Students getting dropped off by parents have their own drop off line designated for parents dropping off their students. Despite this, a lot of parent drivers don’t use said line. Instead, some parents go into the student or staff parking lots to drop off their student.  Although most have the intention of a quick drop-off, it ends up causing a lot of problems for others because it causes traffic blocks, blocks spots students pay for, and affects parking lot safety.

Often when parents drop students off in the main parking lot, it creates a line blocking students from parking. The parking lot works very well if it’s used as it was intended to be, it’s intended for students to park and not cause heavy traffic out in the morning. This causes congestion and long lines in the parking lot which subsequently blocks students from their parking spots. With the school cracking down on tardies lately, this affects students’ attendance with something they have no control over.

Parents are also  branching into the senior lot when dropping their students off, which not only causes previous problems but parent drivers tend to park in a spot for long periods of time. These parking spots being taken are reserved for seniors who paid at least $100 for their spot and $25 for the permit. This causes even more of an inconvenience for those who paid for these parking spots when parents who didn’t pay are blocking them from accessing their reserved spots, oftentimes delaying students’ arrival to school which is unfair for students who paid for their spots.

On top of all of these issues, there is also a safety factor that contributes to this problem. Students have to walk through the parking lot in the mornings and more cars makes the risk for accidents higher. Often the speed limit of 10 mph is not respected when parents are dropping off students and needlessly, that affects the safety of staff and students walking through the parking lot.

To remedy this, there should be more parking lot monitoring in the morning. Students have parking stickers on their cars whereas parents don’t, which would make it easy for staff to catch parents breaking the rules and redirecting them to their designated drop off area.