Due to construction of the new weight room near Door 21 on the northeast corner of CHS, there are shortages of parking spaces in all special student parking lots These lots are closer to the school than the main student parking area near the football stadium. Students may get a pass from administration to park their car in these lots if they fulfill certain criteria. According to Assistant Principal John Newton, the shortage will last indefinetely.

Newton said another reason for the shortages is the increased amount of students. “We have too many kids, too many cars, too many students that have cars and they can’t all fit up here; they can’t all fit up next to the school,” he said. “We have plenty of parking spaces down by the stadium, but we don’t have plenty up here.”

Even with the cuts, Newton said some groups can still get special parking passes including students with medical excuses, K-8 mentors, internship students, education profession students, early childhood students and class presidents.

Evan Henry, 2013 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist and senior, said National Merit Semifinalists will not receive special parking spaces this year, although he says that the parking shortage is not a big issue.

(Click here to see a list of the 48 National Merit Semifinalists at CHS this year.)

“I feel like it’s not that big of a deal, the amount of people that drive to school is a lot higher than the amount of people that need to drive to school,” he said. “A lot of kids do it just because it’s fun, but they don’t need to.”

Newton said he agrees with Henry. “I do not think it is a serious issue because there is more than one way to get to school,” Newton said. “One, you can get on the bus, you can carpool, somebody can drop you off, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Henry also said the parking space shortage will not affect students too much. “Probably most won’t mind that much, I think that a lot of them are okay walking the trail and the majority of students walk it so it’s not going to make that big of a difference. There’s just select groups like National Merit Semifinalists who aren’t going to have parking passes, but I would say that on the most part, students aren’t really going to notice or mind that much,” Henry said.