Each morning, the roads surrounding CHS erupt with traffic as students struggle to make it to school on time and find a parking spot. While the student parking struggle is a commonly debated one (see our September editorial about parking passes), a far less discussed issue is that of teacher parking. Administration should change parking policies to provide more clearly designated spots for teachers.

Students who have parking passes are granted designated spots, marked with a number that corresponds with their parking pass. However, teachers have no designated spots, and are instructed to park in any unlabeled spot, first come first serve.

It would be a lot easier for teachers if they had numbered spots, preventing them from having to search for a parking spot in the morning. This would be an easy policy to implement, as most teachers already park in a similar spot daily, and would make parking a lot less stressful for them because they would have a guaranteed spot. However, it would also improve another issue—students parking illegally up the trail.

When students park up the trail without permission, they park in spots teachers need. When teachers can’t find a place to park, school policies say they are not allowed to park in a numbered student spot or a guest spot, even if these spots are available. Also, while administrators are allowed to block off their spot with cones to save it, teachers are not allowed to do this. This leaves them with no other options if all spots are filled (for example, filled by illegally parked students!), leading to situations like my English teacher’s. When she leaves school during her prep period or for an appointment, she returns before B3 to a full parking lot, sometimes forcing her to park in a “violators will be towed” spot to make sure she can get to class on time.

When transition-to-college-program (TCP) students park up the trail after a release period, they justify it because if a spot is open in the middle of the day, they think it would go unused without them parking there. However, this spot is likely needed by a teacher on their prep period.

Walking the trail is not the end of the world. Students should be more conscientious of how parking violations make their teachers’ lives harder—don’t just park at the stadium to avoid a parking violation. Park at the stadium because it’s the right thing to do.